Foregone Innocence
by pdljmpr6
Summary: In a galaxy where survival comes first, one's innocence is often the first thing to be sacrificed. Ronon whump and team angst - ain't nothin better. Will probably be slight pairings sprinkled througout. COMPLETE
1. Just Another Mission

**A/N: I'm baack. I'm excited to start posting this fic (my inbox gets so lonely when I'm not getting reviews) although I think it's going to be a bit of a challenge for me. Hope you like this first chap...do you guys know what the word 'cliffee' refers to?...**

**Disclaimer: I shall not repeat: I only play with the characters, I must return them to their rightful owners (SciFi and the like) at the end of the day. Now, what condition they're in when they get there...that's another story entirely...**

Another planet.

Another trading mission. Another diplomatic 'first contact' encounter. Another series of boring meetings.

Ronon preferred gate travel to sitting around Atlantis, but he couldn't help but wish sometimes that _something_ would happen. That wasn't to say that his team didn't run into more than their fair share of 'action', which Rodney would happily attest to. It was just the long, monotonous periods in-between that got to the ex-Runner like itching powder in the bed sheets.

Ronon didn't look up when he become aware of Rodney's voice again. Instead choosing to continue scanning the immediate area for the slightest hint of danger, keeping his hand resting on his blaster as he did so.

"No discernible power readings, no sign of even reasonably advanced technology or machinery of any kind. I mean, their houses are made out of mud for crying out loud. And whatever they are cooking makes Monday Meatloaf Surprise seem like heaven in a bowl." Rodney grumbled loudly from the middle of their group, his P90 hanging overly casually from his tac vest as he studied his life signs detector irritably.

Ronon rolled his eyes. The scientist was always complaining about never coming upon a planet with inhabitants that didn't want to 'kill, kidnap, torture or eat them'. But for reasons as of yet not understood by the rest of the team, his complaining was just as loud, if not louder, now on this decidedly benign planet, as it was on all those other categorically hostile ones.

Immediately to Rodney's left Teyla walked, looking slightly amused as always at Rodney's constant chatter. But the strained smile on her face told anyone observant enough to notice that even _her_ patience was wearing thin.

Sheppard trudged at the front of their small group, warily sighing when Rodney's complaining grumbles turned to something closer to petulant whining about being hungry because 'his blood sugar must be getting low'.

"Rodney, do us all a favor and have a power bar."

"Why would that be a favor to you?"

"Because I'm hoping that with food in your mouth you're less likely to keep talking."

A disbelieving grunt from Ronon accompanied Rodney's sarcastic, "cute."

A three click hike from the gate, after passing through a few small gatherings of mud houses and cautious inhabitants, clusters so small they couldn't even accurately be called villages, the team found the town they'd been searching for. The small mud houses with thatcher roofs gave way to more substantial ones made of stone and wood. Through the center of town there was a thriving marketplace filled with traders, everything from cloth and tools to vegetables and meat. And, much to Rodney's delight, the people in the town seemed to know their way around a cooking fire, because the smells emanating from some of the small bakeries and meatpackers was nothing short of mouth watering.

"All right looks like the pub is this way," John said after a moment of surveying the crowd. He sensed nothing hostile or out of the ordinary and a quick glance at Ronon, though his hand was still perched at his weapon, told him the big man felt the same.

"Why is that always the first place we stop?" Rodney asked, his voice dangerously close to whining. The foursome weaved their way through the crowd toward the tavern. Ronon rolled his eyes when Rodney's gaze lingered on booths with vegetables and fresh baked bread as they past.

"Because in a place like this, Rodney, it is often the best place to start when you are looking to make contacts," Teyla explained patiently, smiling congenially at the unfamiliar faces they were surrounded by.

Ronon only half listened when they entered the pub, which was really not at all unlike the dozens of taverns they'd visited on dozens of other worlds. The usual pleasantries were exchanged and they were led to a table in the middle of the tavern, where the keeper, who apparently was also a member of the leadership council on their planet, had them all brought food and they set about negotiating. The same cautious questions and vague answers were exchanged. Trade proposals and bargaining all carried out to the letter of tedium.

But his rapidly waning interest was finally piqued when Ronon heard the conversation turn to himself.

"You're friend there, he Satedan?"

Ronon looked over and noticed for the first time the tavern keeper had hardly eight teeth in his mouth. Sheppard glanced back over at him but Ronon leaned forward, choosing to answer for himself.

"That depends on who's asking," he said, his hand, which had been tucked casually into the beltloop of his pants, subconsciously fell back to the hilt of his blaster.

The man squinted cloudy gray eyes and nodded, "You _are_ Satedan. I recognize the clan tattoo. Dex." He rubbed a pudgy hand against his bloated neck on the spot that coincided with Ronon's tattoo. He tilted his head to the left, "I think there's some friends of yours lookin' for ya'."

Ronon's expression remained neutral and he met eyes briefly with Sheppard before standing and moving off in the direction the man indicated.

The tavern was L-shaped, the shorter end extending back behind the actual bar area into a slightly darker place where the smoke pooled in the air and the smell of alcohol was near overpowering.

Ronon pushed aside the tattered curtain that separated the small back room from the rest of the bar, fighting back apprehension that bubbled in his stomach. After Tyre and the others, he couldn't seem to shake the feeling that if there _were_ Satedans nearby, he'd be doing himself a favor to run in the opposite direction.

There were just under a dozen people in the tiny room, and he scanned all their faces quickly. He didn't recognize a single one. That would have been enough in itself to send him back out into the main room looking for orders to return to the gate, even if he hadn't known who they really were.

And he _knew_, he immediately recognized the clothing of Quari Traders from one too many 'business' transactions over the years.

He turned on his heel to leave, but was stopped by the low, powerful voice of one of the men in the room.

"Ronon Dex."

Ronon spun back around and raised his blaster in one motion, but stopped himself from firing when Sheppard stepped forward, his hands tensing on his own weapon while at the same time staying Ronon's.

"What is it?"

"They know my name," he said simply, in his experience that was reason enough to kill a strange man.

Sheppard shrugged in faked nonchalance, "I thought the tavern keeper said they were friends of yours."

Teyla and Rodney pulled up beside them but Ronon took no notice.

"They're no friends of mine," he growled, glaring daggers at the man before them, "They're Quari."

Out of the corner of his eye Rodney saw Teyla glower and the expression made him shudder.

"Teyla?" John's unspoken question told Rodney he'd seen the look as well.

"A race of traders, unfair one's I might add. They are in everything from black market merchandise to slave trade and are not above harming those who do not wish to trade in a manner they deem _fair_," she explained shortly, raising her own weapon to have the men in her sights.

The man who'd first spoken smiled congenially. "I see my reputation precedes me."

"Give me one good reason not to kill you where you sit." Ronon said, resisting the urge to switch his blaster setting from 'stun' to 'kill'.

The man raised an eyebrow so high it nearly touched his thinning black hair. He seemed unconcerned with being in the sights of arguably one of the best shots in Pegasus, and sipped his steaming drink slowly before answering.

"Because if you did, it would not matter. There would be three more to take my place," he gestured around the room at three other similarly dressed men.

Sheppard stepped in before Ronon could fire, fearing the Quari's reason would not be good enough for the Satedan.

"It seems we've been misdirected, sorry about the intrusion. We'll just be on our way."

"I'm afraid I can't allow that, Good Sir," a bad feeling that had been rumbling low in Sheppard's stomach suddenly flared up to full force, "I didn't go through all the trouble of getting you here just so you could leave."

"Why did you then?" Sheppard turned back around, eyeing the man and his companions warily.

He sneered and it made Ronon's urge to kill someone only more pronounced.

"Business," was the man's only answer.

"Sheppard…"

But his warning came seconds too late as the four 'Lanteans watched helplessly as their world faded to black.

_TBC_


	2. The Missing

**A/N: My internet and computer are funky right now, so I couldn't respond personally to reviews but thanks to each and every one of you, they make my day and I love hearing what you guys liked (all you fellow writers will understand what I mean). And I'm super excited that everyone seems to be on board for this little train ride. I'll try to keep these updates regular but frequency may be a problem (see aformentioned funky computer issues and challenging fic-ness) but I promise to do the best I can. Enjoy! -pj  
**

Consciousness came slowly. And painfully.

John let out an audible groan, the light was too bright, even from behind his eyelids. He turned his head to one side, then the other, looking for some relief that proved very much illusive even while the smell of dirt and decaying leaves filled his nose. He heard shifting and groaning nearby and gathered that he was not alone.

He pried his eyes open, his sluggish brain needing to know if the movement belonged to friend, preferably his team, or foe, preferably someone he could shoot.

He was somewhat relived both to find the forms of Rodney and Teyla on the ground nearby coming around to conciousness, and to see that he was not the only one having trouble with the concept.

Teyla was recovering quickly. After blinking uncomfortably against the light a few times, she rolled onto her side and sat up, looking around with an expression of pained suspicion.

Rodney on the other hand, was much more vocal, and much slower about doing so.

"Oh man, I feel like I was hit on the head with a sledgehammer," he groaned, bringing both his hands up to cover his eyes.

John, now mostly awake and pushing the pain to the back of his mind, sat up and looked around, immediately noting that their p90s and sidearms were missing as well as their radios. He patted the pockets of his tac vest experimentally and found most of his other supplies, MRE bars and field dressings, were still present. He looked at Teyla, her purse-lipped nod telling him she'd deduced the same.

"…have _got_ to stop eating everything that's put in front of me on these ridiculous excursions…"

John took another look around. They'd been dumped. That was really the only explanation for it. They were out in the open - for which he was thankful since he was really not in the mood to bust out of a jail cell right now - and in some kind of clearing in the middle of a densely wooded area. Aside from a few small animals in the trees and foraging along the ground, he, McKay and Teyla seemed to be the only living beings for miles.

"…_so_ not what I signed up for. I expect a full weeks stay in the infirmary when I get back, no exceptions…"

Teyla and John got to their feet, both acutely aware of the absence of one of their teammates.

"Ronon?" Teyla said, looking up as if she expected him to be building them a shelter in the tree's high branches.

"…not to mention the fact that I didn't even want…hey, where's Ronon?"

John ignored his friend and called out into the endless forest that surrounded them.

"Ronon, where the hell are you?" After receiving no response, he turned back to Rodney. "McKay?"

Rodney gave him a blank wide-eyed stare, still waiting for John to come up with an explanation for why their fourth wasn't there. Then, suddenly getting the meaning of John's look, he reached into his vest and pulled out his LSD, "I'm-I'm only getting three readings," he said after a few moments.

Both Teyla and John snapped their heads around to look at him.

Teyla quickly turned back to studying the trees, "could a part of this planet be shielded?"

"There's no way to know," McKay was now looking frantically between his LSD and his teammates, "you don't think-"

"No," Sheppard cut him off well aware of what Rodney's 'worst case scenario' mind was probably cooking up, "and neither do you." He bit his bottom lip and thought a moment, "Are we on the same planet as before?"

Teyla took a moment and then shook her head, "I do not believe so. I did not see any of these kinds of trees on our way to the village."

John nodded, accepting her reasoning, "Rodney, can you tell us which way to the gate?"

Rodney looked down at his scanner, "yeah, probably. Just let me modify this some." He turned so that he was kneeling and began rifling through his backpack.

"They didn't take our tech, or our supplies. Just our weapons and Ronon." John continued, glancing around again as if waiting for their attackers to suddenly pop out of the woodwork. Stranger things had happened.

"How do you know Ronon isn't here somewhere? Out hunting or building shelter or…something?" Rodney muttered.

John shook his head and Teyla answered, "He would not have left us here."

"You don't think the wraith have…"

John didn't let him finish that thought either, "if they did I doubt they'll bother putting a tracking device in him, they'll just kill him."

"Then why take him at all? And why not us as well?"

John shook his head, unable to provide a satisfying answer, "Todd is the only wraith with knowledge of Atlantis' location, now that Michael's out of the picture. And the only ships that knew Earth's location are destroyed…that must be what they're after. What they're always after. Earth."

"If they truly wish to gain information, I can think of other individuals from whom it would be easier to…extract information."

Rodney looked up from his LSD, looking offended, "Okay so I wasn't built to withstand torture. Sue me."

---

When Ronon awoke his head was throbbing, and not just a little bit. He could feel the pressure, no doubt a side affect of whatever drug had been slipped to them in the food, trying to send his eyeballs clear out of his head through his eyelids.

There were voices nearby, and he pushed the banging pain out of his thoughts, or at least behind his thoughts some, in order to hear what they were saying. It took his ears a moment to adjust to the language and dialect, and by then they were no longer talking, but moving toward him.

He remained motionless, knowing from experience the best thing to do was to map out the room while your enemy was still unaware that you posed any threat.

He was laying on his back and two people were approaching from the direction his feet pointed and two more were breathing somewhere near his head. The footsteps stopped and shuffled and he heard the distinct clanging of keys and the creak of a metal door in need of oiling as it was opened.

But there was one thing he didn't hear. Any indication, movement, breathing or otherwise, that his teammates were anywhere nearby. It made his stomach clench involuntarily.

"Wake him," one voice said, and Ronon felt the ground beneath him vibrate with approaching footsteps. He knew a kick in the ribs was the likely wake-up call of choice, and rolled out of the way just as the foot was about to connect, sending the person off balance and to the ground.

Wasting no time, Ronon opened his eyes and grabbed a weapon from the fallen soldier's hip and stood facing the voice. He was only slightly surprised to see three guns pointed back at him.

"You wake, Ronon Dex of Sateda."

The voice he'd heard belonged to a female, a tall lean woman with long hair so dark it was purple when light hit it and flashing green eyes. She smiled at him but there was no warmth in the expression, "make another move, I need only an excuse to kill you."

Ronon glanced warily, first at her and then at the two guards that flanked her. With them and the two behind himself there were at least five weapons pointed in his direction. Not good odds.

He grit his teeth, his instincts telling him to fire, every muscle in his body preparing to fight. But he hesitated, he'd wagered on his own life with odds worse than these before, but the absence of Sheppard, McKay and Teyla in the cell with him made him take pause.

He slowly, begrudgingly, lowered his weapon to the ground and held his hand up. He couldn't chance something happening to them because of his own short-sightedness.

The woman's smile was feral and she raised her hand, swiftly backhanding him across the face with the handle of her weapon.

Ronon's head snapped from the unexpectedly sound blow and he felt blood ooze from a deep gash on his cheek, but made no noise or sound of pain.

He knew better.

As quickly as he could manage he turned back to face her, drawing back his shoulders to be at his full height. As such, the woman stood at least a head and a half shorter than he, but she was not at all intimidated by his obvious physical advantage.

Her eyes were cold, every muscle of her face hard with lines of hatred so deep and intense Ronon could practically smell it on the air.

"Who are you?" he asked, not breaking eye contact but aware of the first soldier getting back to his feet and retrieving his weapon. He went to stand beside his comrades who were motionless, keeping Ronon in their sights, "where is the rest of my team?"

The woman narrowed her eyes as if offended by the question and raised her hand again, hitting him across the face in much the same manner, and location as before. This time Ronon could have sworn he saw stars, but he quelled the rising anger in his stomach. He would repay her for her mistreatment, but he would wait before doing so. At least a little while.

"It is none of your concern, who I am or why I have brought you here," she hissed, "you're only concern is staying alive long enough to be worth the trouble."

At her nod one the guard who's weapon Ronon had taken stepped forward, producing a thin metal strap from his waist belt he roughly pulled Ronon's hands behind his back and fastened tied them. As soon as he stepped away Ronon tested the binds, but they remained unyielding, he looked down again at the woman, through his hair which was now falling loose into his face.

He had many more questions, answers he needed, but didn't voice them. His glare said all she really needed to know.

The woman narrowed her eyes at his obstinate glower and raised her hand again. But she didn't hit him, in fact Ronon got the distinct impression she only wanted him to think she was going to hit him, so he took great pains not to flinch. This only seemed to anger her more. She dropped her hand suddenly, shifting to one side to study him, the way one would study a Gan Foul before purchasing.

"You are strong…proud," she said, her eyes traveling over his body slowly, "the first quality suites me, the second does not." With that she turned on her heel and brushed past the guards saying, "see that when I return tomorrow he is in a more," she glanced back again and Ronon was struck by the hatred in her eyes and he felt a cold stone of his own hatred building in his stomach, "cooperative mood."

She left in a flourish, a floor length black cloak rippling behind her as she descended into the shadows surrounding his cell.

The soldiers nodded dutifully and stepped forward. Ronon readied himself for a fight.

---

Kiy drew back at the abruptness of the attack. Sobiin glanced at her, just shaken at the unfiltered violence but better at hiding it. From their vantage point atop a high hill , they could see over the thick wood walls into the interior of the fortress.

What they saw made them both wish to climb back down again.

"They're hurting him," she muttered, voice high with tears.

Sobiin bit his lip but didn't answer, unaware of his grip on Hayn's shoulder tightening.

"Sobiin," Kiy hissed as the giant with the snake-like hair was knocked to the ground. One of the guards lay unconscious a few feet away and another was nursing a bloody nose and face, but their three other comrades and the buts of their guns were more than making up for their absence, "Sobiin, we have to help him."

"Why?" he asked, his cool tone not giving away the nausea he felt at seeing one of the soldiers spit blood, "why him and not the others?"

Kiy really looked as if she would cry now, "I didn't say we shouldn't help the others!" she protested so loudly Sobiin clapped his hand over her mouth. Kiy quickly ripped it away and said in a softer voice, "but they've never hurt any of the others like this."

Sobiin frowned. It was so simple to her. So easy. Someone needed help, we help. No regard for self-preservation or the danger they would inevitably incur by getting involved. Just someone being hurt and in need of help.

His stomach chose that moment to make it's hunger known. Kiy gave him a look which he pretended not to see.

"And," she drew the word out, "maybe he knows how to find some food _other_ than grappa leaves and insects."

Sobiin sighed again, glancing down at Hayn, who was staring wide eyed at the fort, and then at Kiy, who was rubbing away the few tears that had escaped. He turned to watch as the soldiers kicked the giant - who was now motionless on the ground - one last time.

When Kiy looked up again she saw the determined set of Sobiin's jaw that meant he'd made a decision. She bit her lip. Now she just had to wait and find out what it was.

_TBC_


	3. Anger, Fear and Other Enjoyable Emotions

**A/N: This is a looong one to try and help make up for the obcene delay I had before posting this. Sorry! I'm so stoked about all the people who are reading and liking this so far, I hope it continues to live up to expectations. -pj  
**

"How long is this going to take Rodney?"

John stood pacing a few feet behind the frantically working scientist, his hands pressed into fists to keep from fidgeting. Not having his p90 at his fingertips always made him restless.

"It will take as long as it takes," Rodney snapped back, just as irritated as John at the situation but with the added pressure of trying to repair the obviously intentionally damaged DHD, "this isn't 10th grade physics you know."

"Oh, I'm sorry," John replied sarcastically, his tone almost as edgy as he felt, "I just thought you might want to get a move on, seeing as the longer Ronon is missing the harder it will be to find him. He is _your_ teammate too, after all."

"Yes, he _is _my teammate," Rodney finally pulled himself out from under the DHD console, wagging a finger wildly at John, his entire face beet red, "which is why I would like to get this done right so we don't get vaporized as son as we walk into the puddle and so that we can go get him back!"

"Enough!" Teyla exclaimed, looking at them both, "we are of no use to Ronon like this."

Rodney, after sending one last glare over his tablet, went back to his repairs. John glanced quickly at Teyla and then sighed and pursed his lips, resuming his pacing and waiting as patiently as he could for Rodney to finish cobbling together enough working parts to operate the DHD.

---

With a grunt Ronon sat up and half pushed, half-willed himself to move back enough to lean against the bars of his cell.

He'd awoken a few moments ago, and had since been taking stock of everything he hadn't noticed before when he'd been too concerned, to a greater or lesser degree, about staying alive to really see anything.

His cell was actually more like a cage, completely open and exposed to the air and he could see stars overhead. In front of his cell was a large, plain square building that was shrouded in shadow due to the torches that were lit close to the cells. Plural. After a few minutes he'd cleared his head enough to realize he was no longer alone. He may not have noticed the landscape before, but he knew for a fact that the last time he'd been awake he and the soldiers had been the only living souls nearby. Now he saw there were nearly eight other cells like his own, each holding one occupant.

And they were a talkative group.

"Hey, hey, look! He's waking up."

Ronon didn't turn his head but moved his eyes to the right and saw a man one cell away holding the bars and leaning his head through, grinning a yellow-toothed smile at him.

"I don't know whatchu did stranger, but they beat you good. Thought they'd liked to kill you."

Ronon looked away disinterestedly and continued surveying his surroundings. To his back was a tall wooden wall, at least ten feet high, and to his left were stacks of large supply crates.

"Your mouth is as big as your empty head, Mure. Leave him be, or I would not want to be you when he is feeling better."

"What? I only pay the man a compliment. The guards spoke of what he did to those two men even with his hands bound!"

Ronon allowed a tiny smile on the corner of his mouth at this, he had enjoyed the fighting, at least as much as one could when he was being knocked unconscious and then some. But he'd held his own, his temper had certainly gotten the better of him.

"Look at him Zil'ha, he smiles," the first man, the obnoxious one, said to his friend. Then addressing Ronon, "I do not think you will still smile when Vorna hears what you've done."

Ronon furrowed his brow and turned his head slightly, "Vorna?"

"The woman. Dark hair?" The man between Ronon's cell and the other man's spoke up. He lay flat on the ground, his hands pillowing his head as he looked up through the bars at the sky, "Vorna Tau of the Shedd. A mean one she is," he turned to look at Ronon, sizing up his injuries, especially the swollen deep cut on his face, "but I think this is something you already know."

Ronon looked away again. That at least explained some things. He now understood the woman's, Vorna's, hate. The Shedd were self-proclaimed sworn enemies of Sateda.

He looked around again. It explained what he was doing here as well. After the Satedan Army neutralized the Sheddi homeworld their people scattered into the galaxy. Rumors surfaced of many former military officers turning to making their fortunes in black market trade.

That, his cell and new companions, and the encounter with the Quari Traders all led to only one possible conclusion.

Slave trade.

Ronon couldn't hold back a snort.

_Like hell._

Zil'ha watched the dangerous black cloud descend again around the newcomer. Turning his head so he could still see the Satedan out of the corner of his eye, he spoke softly to his friend.

"We must watch this one, Mure, he is not for this life. If there is escape from this place, it lies with him."

---

John's hand hovered over the newly restored gate symbols.

"So, back to M8A – 119?" He asked with false cheer.

"Is it not standard procedure to radio Atlantis when we intend to leave one planet for another," Teyla asked hesitantly.

"Well," John drawled, "technically we didn't know we were leaving the other planet when we left so…we go back now and they'll never know the difference."

McKay just rolled his eyes, muttering to himself as he roughly shoved the remainder of his gear into his backpack. Teyla looked sympathetic, understanding John's desire to return to the planet and begin the search for their missing teammate as soon as possible.

"Surely they have tried to check-in by now…we will be missed," she informed them reluctantly.

John bit his lip, nodding, still eyeing the symbols warily, "I know, but what are the chances, do you think, of us going back to Atlantis and Woolsey letting us turn around and walk right back out again to go look for Ronon?"

He glanced over his shoulder at both Teyla and McKay and was met with silence.

John sighed, "I was afraid you'd say that."

He pounded his hand against the DHD, dialing the familiar symbols to Atlantis.

---

Ronon's rage had reached a new high and he was now grinding his teeth constantly as he paced the length and breadth of his cage.

The only really useful information he'd managed to garnish from his chatty companions was that none of them had heard of any of the other members of his team being in the camp. Which meant they were somewhere else, maybe even safely back on Atlantis. Which meant he hadn't killed Vorna when he had the chance.

Which really pissed him off.

Mure and Zil'ha had backed off when his stoic silence turned to animalistic growls in response to their never-ending attempts to pull him into conversation. He'd long since put the pain of his other abundant but minor injuries from his mind, but the pain in his shoulders that accompanied every movement due to the tight metal bindings would not be ignored and his vision swam every time he turned to pace in the other direction. He was sure it would lessen if he sat still, but he just couldn't convince his body to do so.

He'd always hated small spaces.

Movement from the building caught his attention and he walked right up to the bars and watched as Vorna Tau, flanked by the two soldiers that had up till then been guarding the building's only entrance, approached his cell.

Her hair was pulled back now and he could see evidence of what he already knew. Adorning her right ear was a thin silver chain threaded through four holes punched into the outside flesh. It was a Sheddi sign of rank. Commander.

"Twelve years is a long time to hold a grudge."

She stopped a few feet away from the bars and narrowed her eyes, silently demanding further explanation.

Ronon smiled a cold grin not unlike the very first one he'd received from Vorna herself.

"The war between our two worlds was a lifetime ago, and yet you still feel the shame of your defeat."

Her eyes flashed dangerously and she took a small, menacing step forward, her need to defend her people outweighing her desire to treat him like the bug she truly thought he was. "That was no war, it was a slaughter. _Thousands _of innocents died."

"Maybe if your leaders had come up with a better offer and had not backed it with threats when their military wouldn't be able to see them through, it wouldn't have been."

"Our proposals were fair!" Vorna spat.

"Our leaders didn't think so."

"Your leaders were _bursa _who were too cowardly to accept an alliance that would have undoubtedly tipped the scales of power in the galaxy."

"I'm sure they had a good reason."

"The way they had a good reason to leave thousands of their own people behind on a planet about to be ravaged by the wraith?"

Vorna took poisonous pleasure in the way Ronon lunged at her through the bars, yanking so hard at his binds there was an audible 'pop' when one of his shoulders dislocated. She laughed coolly at his grunt of pain.

She cocked her head to one side and stood silent for several moments, "Yore, it seems that the Satedan is in pain. Do see what you can do about that."

Ronon watched with slightly fuzzy vision as one of the guards stepped forward and removed a key from his pocket to unlock the cage.

He tried to dodge the man's hands but every movement was slowed with sharp burning pain and he was caught easily. The man wrapped big hands around his arm and shoulder and with a rough shove, popped Ronon's shoulder back into place.

Ronon barely muffled his cry of pain and fell to his knees, resting his sweaty forehead on the cool dirt floor, heaving for the breath that had left him.

"I must leave for a few days, Satedan," Vorna's deceptivley sweet voice burrowed into his cloudy mind, "but when I return we shall continue getting to know each other."

Ronon felt, more than saw, as Vorna and the others walked away but he waited until he heard the heavy wooden door to the building shut before he allowed himself to slip into blissful oblivion.

---

"Are you sure this is gonna work, Sobiin?"

Kiy looked down carefully from their delicate perch in one of the tall trees surrounding the camp walls. Just a few feet further and a ten foot drop and they would be inside. But now she wasn't so sure that _inside _the camp was exactly where she wanted to be.

"Are you giving up on me _now_, Kiy? After all it took to get up here?" Sobiin asked in exasperation.

She shrugged, "no. But-"

"Then lets do this," he glanced over his shoulder, "You stay here, Hayn. Don't. Move."

Hayn nodded, gripping the large limb tightly with forced concentration.

Satisfied, Sobiin moved to follow Kiy as they crawled along the branch where it extended over the walls.

Kiy bit her lip and glanced first at the ground, then back at Sobiin, and then at the ground again.

"I sure hope this works," she muttered. Then closed her eyes, said a quick prayer to the Ancestors, and carefully began lowering herself onto the highest stacked crate.

_TBC_


	4. Unexpected

**A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews, and props to BlondieChemGirl for being the only one to guess the "suprise". (Don't feel bad, I didn't actually _tell _you it was a surprise...) -pj  
**

Richard entered the conference room and John immediately stopped tapping his fingers and sat forward in his chair, releasing a flash of pain between his temples. The tension knot in his stomach had quickly given way to a tension headache that he was hell bent on ignoring as long as it was tolerable.

Rodney stopped pretending to be busy with his computer and did a pretty good Large Mouth Bass impression as he tried to decide if he wanted to say something sarcastic about Woolsey's seemingly leisurley pace or just wait quietly for what Woolsey had to say.

Teyla, who by outward appearances was handleing the situation best out of all her team, zeroed in on the Woolsey's stiff posture and slight grimace. She straitened in her chair and glanced at John, wondering if he saw what she saw.

To say the team was 'on edge' was an understatment of unspeakable proportions.

"Well?" John asked, impatient as always and he watched as Woolsey settled into his chair at the other end of the room, "what did they say?"

Woolsey calmly folded his hands and laid them on the table in front of him. He hesitated, and it was a moment too long for McKay.

"Well by all means please, take your time. We've not got a missing teammate or anything...oh wait. We do."

To all their surprise, however, Woolsey didn't give McKay one of his mostly exhasperated almsot annoyed looks, in fact, he didn't look any member of the team in the eye for several moments. Finally, he took a deep breath and addressed the team.

"Due to the extended amount of time and energies spent last year in the search for Miss Emmagen," his eyes dropped from Teyla's at mention of her name and instead focused on the tablet laid on the table in front of him, "the IOA believes searching the galaxy for someone who is not an 'official' member of the expedition would not be the best use of Atlantis' resources-"

That was all it took to set fire to John's already admittedly short fuse, "tell them they can go to hell!"

"Colonel I-"

"No, dammit Woolsey I don't give a rat's ass what those suits consider to be a 'good' use of resources or who is 'officially' on this expedition. He's on _my _team, he's trained every marine that's come through that gate for the past four years and there's not a soldier on this base who wouldn't lay down their life for him in a _second_. That's as official as I need."

"I agree," Teyla spoke up, her voice quiet but demanding and if John hadn't been so busy suppressing violent impulses he would have been taken aback by the unprecedented level of hurt and anger in her tone, "The 'official' members of the Atlantis' expedition are loyal to each other, _not _the IOA."

"I assure you Teyla there is-"

"The IOA does realize that we ask them out of courtesy, right?" Rodney cut in, looking ready to have an aneurysm and his body couldn't quite decide if he wanted to stand up and pace or sit down and wave his hands until someone realized how utterly _stupid _this whole thing was, "I mean, we can do pretty much whatever we want, with _or without_ their approval and there's not a hell of a lot they can do about it."

"Please, if I may," Richard said, his voice having to strain to be heard over their overlapping voices of complaints and threats. He held up both his hands in a placating gesture and managed to silence any further outbursts. He sighed and looked at Rodney, "I don't know if the IOA is aware of that particular factoid, Dr. McKay, and I'm not sure now is the best time to bring it to their attention."

"Well that remains to be seen," Rodney scoffed, still too upset by Woolsey's previous announcement to even realize the man had just openly admitted he was right.

"Now, as I stated earlier, that was the IOA's official position…" he took a deep breath, "I didn't say I agreed with them."

The team exchanged glances, trying to decipher if that meant what they thought it meant.

Richard pursed his lips, well aware that this was one of those times when he was putting his job on the line for the sake of doing the right thing, the better thing, for Atlantis. He wondered if he could ever forgive Col. Sheppard for teaching him that lesson.

He looked directly at the Col. and nodded.

"Do what you have to. Bring him home."

---

Ronon turned his head only slightly when he heard footsteps approaching. Not enough to alert anyone that he heard them, but enough to be able to tell the steps were hesitant and uncertain. Not one of the guards. There was a soft sniffling noise accompanied by a rustle of clothing.

His curiosity getting the better of him, Ronon sat up, slowly so as not to aggravate his newly discovered rib injury or his overly obvious shoulder one, and turned. In the shadows just outside the light of flickering torches he could see the vague outline of a small form.

He narrowed his eyes, but it did little to improve his swimming vision.

"Who's there?" he asked gruffly, a throbbing head and rebellious stomach had not put him in a very amicable mood. He glanced quickly over his shoulder, but the guard on duty in front of the door of the building was still gone, having disappeared inside several minutes ago.

The form tensed and straightened, freezing all it's small, fidgety movements.

"Who's that?" Ronon asked again, this time struggling to his feet, grunting at the exertion. He approached the bars of his cage, his eyes fixed on the figure in the shadows.

After a few seconds the form moved into the light and Ronon was slightly surprised to find himself staring at a small child, no more than 6 or 7 years old.

A girl, with dark hair in long, messy plaits on either side of her head and a dirty face. She was chewing one of her chapped lips nervously while her hands were fisted in the folds of tattered clothing.

"Who are you?"

The child winced at his harsh tone but didn't draw back in fear. Instead stopping forward to deliver her answer.

"Kiy," she said in a voice that almost sounded older than she was. She took another step closer, now almost able to reach out and touch the bars of Ronon's cell and she had to tip her head all the way back to look him in the face. He towered over her.

"Where are you're parents?" It was a logical question, but not Ronon's. It came from Mure who had also noticed their visitor's presence and was watching her closely.

This time Kiy seemed to wince for a different reason. She looked away and lifted one booted foot to tap the toe on the ground.

"Gone."

Ronon slid his eyes to one side to look again at the fort. "Did Vorna send you?" He didn't think the woman was above using children to serve her twisted gains.

Kiy shook her head.

"Then why are you here?"

"Did you deserve it?" She asked suddenly, her eyes wide in earnest.

Ronon frowned, "what?"

"They…they hurt you," she said, sounding a little bit shy this time. She looked pointedly at the bruises riddling his arms and face, "Did you do something wrong?"

Ronon studied the girl for several moments, unaccustomed to being questions and certainly not by such small interrogators. "Not to them."

"Then why did they hurt you?" she asked immediately, giving no notice to his qualifying answer.

Ronon shrugged and then winced, remembering his shoulder.

The girl's frown was deep and deeply sincere, "People shouldn't hurt people. That's the wraith's job."

Ronon found her sudden anger surprising. Not since the 'Lanteans had he meant someone with such an overdeveloped sense of right and wrong. The lines between the two tended to blur when survival was involved.

"Why are you here?" Ronon asked again.

She bit her lip and answered simply, "To help."

Ronon frowned and Zil'ha spoke up from behind him.

"What about us, little one?"

Ronon glanced back at the man, there was a softness in his tone he hadn't heard before. Kiy mobed to see around Ronon and looked as if she was noticing the other prisoners for the first time. She shrugged, "all of you, I guess." Her gaze came back to Ronon and lingered on his arms, still bound painfully behind his back, the leather vest he wore did little to hide the severe bruising forming on his right shoulder.

"I'm supposed to find where the keys are," she said purposefully, her gaze locked on Ronon's.

"The Sentinals have them." Zil'ha answered quickly, practically salivating at the idea of escape, even if salvation did come at the hands of a child.

Kiy made a face, "Sentinals?"

"The ones with the red stripes on their collars," Ronon clarified, his voice low and even.

Kiy seemed to think about this for a moment and then nodded and, before anyone could say anything, she disappeared back into the shadows.

Ronon watched her leave, a deep thoughtful frown on his brow. If Sheppard or Teyla had been there they would have known by the stiff set of his shoulders and jaw that he wasn't sure of the girl's intentions, but by the determination in his eyes that he meant to take any opportunity presented him. And he meant to make it count.

He turned and moved to stand at the door of his cell.

"Mure, Zil'ha," he said, watching the building before them as if he saw something they did not, "Get ready."

Zil'ha did, and Mure reached through the bars and grabbed his sleeve.

"She was just a child, Zil'ha."

"I am aware, Mure," he responded sharply, "now make yourself ready, or you will be left behind."

_TBC_


	5. Fare Thee Well

**A/N: Okay, this chap was the hardest so far and I'm not totally thrilled with how it came out so let me know what you think. -pj  
**

John paced slowly, almost casually, outside the brig. He had his hands clasped behind his back, watching the floor beneath his boots as he calmly walked from one end of the room to the other and back again. His face hard, his lips pursed, he never said a word. Lorne was ikeeping a close eye on both his CO and their prisoner, his grip on his p90 never faltering.

It had been like this for nearly half an hour. At first the tavern keeper, so called 'leader' of his village had protested vehemently about his unlawful arrest, threatening to take it up with the Coalition. Lorne informed him that the 'arrest' was really going to be the least of his problems if something happened to Ronon. Then the man had switched to begging. 'Please let me go', I don't know where you're friend is', 'I couldn't tell you if I did, the traders will kill me.' John never spoke. Never even looked at the man. Just allowed his anger roll off of him in waves, burrowing into the keeper's psyche.

"I don't understand why I'm here, I mean, your people got out safely," his voice was a cross between pleading and whining, but this did finally get a reaction out of John, though perhaps not the one he'd wanted.

John suddenly jumped forward, the brig doors flying open as he grabbed the man roughly by his collar, slamming him back against the horizontal bars.

"Colonel," Lorne said, but his one word warning fell on deaf ears.

"Not _all_ of my people got out safely and I think you know that," Sheppard spat through clenched teeth, tightening his hold on the man's clothing until he was almost lifting him off the ground and punctuating each word with a harsh shake, "you _lied_ about being a village leader, you _lied_ about the Quari traders being Ronon's friends, and I think you're lying about not knowing how to contact them. Now, I suggest you find some truth to tell us and you find it fast because if anything happens to him you're gonna wish I would turn you over to the Quari."

Lorne had pulled up to the brig opening with two marines in tow, watching closely as the Colonel barely restrained himself from suffocating their resident tavern keeper. He winced at the Colonel's threat, knowing there was very little anyone would be able to do to stop the Colonel from making good on that promise.

---

Ronon wasn't winded and he pretended not to be annoyed by Mure and Zil'ha's labored breathing beside him. He looked down at his rescuers and couldn't help but be slightly amused.

"What?" Sobiin asked, raising an eyebrow, "you don't actually think that was my first jailbreak, do you?"

Ronon tilted his head to one side, studying the boy curiously. Curious because he was, in fact, a boy. Sobiin looked to be around ten, though he swore up and down that he was twelve, Kiy confirmed his suspicion of her age, seven at the next full moon. And then there was Hayn, the youngest boy, around 2 and a half or so, the others weren't sure, standing with his face hid partly behind Sobiin's leg, one of his huge blue eyes peeking out to look at Ronon and his companions.

"Kids," was all he said. And he suppressed the smile that threatened his lips. It wasn't often he needed help rescuing himself, and the help coming from a bunch of children? Well, there is a first for everything they say.

He remembered the jest of what had happened, though the details were fuzzy, probably partially because of that blow to his head he was hell bent on ignoring.

Not too long after Kiy had disappeared into the darkness explosions rocked the camp. Shortly thereafter there was a loud clanging noise as the cell doors automatically disengaged. Ronon thought it odd at first as this allowed the majority of the prisoners to take off in all directions, but as he ran toward the shadows, Mure and Zil'ha on his heels, he heard the first whispering to the second that it had happened once before. On Goran there had been a fire in the slave camp and the cells disengaged,

_It's difficult to sell barbequed merchandise_, Ronon surmised silently.

The guards immediately stormed the yard, shooting most of the escaping prisoners with energy weapons Ronon recognized as primitive stunners available from most weapon traders. Ronon and his companions had pressed themselves into the darkness and they were not seen. When a guard ran around one side of the building Ronon jumped out in front of him, easily disarming the man and his companion even with both his hands tied behind his back.

He shouted to Mure and Zil'ha to take up their weapons and was relieved when they neither argued nor hesitated. Some of the prisoners were fighting back at the guards with pretty much anything they could find, everything from chains for binding to peices of fallen wood, and Ronon realized there must have been other cells he wasn't aware of because the escaped prisoners had nearly doubled in number from the ones he'd counted before.

It was then that he'd seen Kiy, too small a target for most of the preoccupied guards, she was darting around in the chaos, barely avoiding being hit with a stun beam one moment and with a body the next. There was fear in her eyes but she bit her lip and with single-minded focus beyond her years ran straight to him. She proudly showed him the key she'd acquired, her smile unfittingly bright for the situation, and quickly undid the bindings on his bloody wrists.

Taking no note of the soreness brought on by suddenly being able to move his arms, Ronon shouted at the three of them to climb the crates and leave the way Kiy came in. It took little convincing, as Mure and Zil'ha had no desire to linger and Kiy had to show them the way. He watched them disappear in the opposite direction to where the impromptu battle was taking place. He turned to enter the building, he wanted a piece of Vorna but he knew she'd already left the planet or she would have been out fighting with her men, but he could at least go find his gun. He was almost to the door when he was stopped by the sound of cannon-like fire, overwhelmingly familiar, coming from the other side of the building.

That was when he'd met Sobiin. The boy had his, Ronon's, gun trained surprisingly steadily on two soldiers twice his size as they advanced. They were screaming obscenities at him in a language Ronon only barely recognized but the boy just smirked at them cockily. He did have the big gun, after all.

Ronon caught site of a figure approaching the boy from behind and, well, he really wanted his gun back.

He rushed the first two guards, shouting a warning to the boy. He grabbed the man's arm when he turned around to point his weapon at him and swept his legs from beneathe him. Then, after he kicked the other man in the chest he fell into a short stack of crates, which promptly tumbled to the ground on top of both soldiers. When Ronon looked up again, he saw the boy had managed to shoot the other soldier, but he hadn't moved since doing so. Ronon glanced down and saw his weapon setting was red, kill mode, and the boy had blown a hole in the soldier's chest the size of McKay's ego.

Ronon glanced at the boy and then at the body, he thought the kid might get sick by the look on his face. He turned when he heard shouts coming from behind and realized the chaos of before had been abated. The prisoners were all either stunned, or back in their cages save Ronon and his small companion.

Snatching his gun and grabbing the boy by the collar, he fired twice, blowing a sizeable hole into the wooden wall and shoved the boy through, following right behind.

Ronon turned and fired again into the camp, staving off their pursuers for a few extra moments. He glanced in the direction the boy had gone, momentarily contemplating heading in the other direction. But there were too many unanswered questions for him to do that now, and he cursed himself for his curiosity, a trait he couldn't remember having very much trouble with until he'd met John Sheppard and Rodney McKay.

He followed the boy out into the forest.

After half a klick Ronon heard a rustling in the bushes and he turned, ready to fire, but Sobiin recognized the figure that emerged and quickly pushed Ronon's barrel away as it wrapped itself around Sobiin's legs.

That was when he'd met Hayn.

Sobiin had silently led him to a meeting place atop a small hill far outside the camp walls and they, unsurprisingly, met back up with Kiy, Mure and Zil'ha.

"What? No 'thank you' for saving all your lives?" Sobiin asked indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest. Kiy looked up at him looking a bit confused by his anger, "and I found that gun, I want it back."

Ronon smiled with half his mouth and purposefully shoved his weapon into the waistband of his pants, a move that always got him an earful from Sheppard. He crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head at the boy, "thank you," he humored him, "Anything else to your little escape plan?"

Kiy frowned, "like what?"

"Like how we get off this rock?" Mure piped up.

Sobiin pursed his lips, "there is a ring…but it doesn't work."

"Doesn't work?"

"People can dial in, but you can't dial out."

Mure was pacing nervously behind Ronon, glancing back frequently at the camp, "why aren't they coming after us?"

"Because they have the only working gate on this planet," Zil'ha supplied, "and apparently, they don't think we'll make it very far on this planet alive."

Ronon turned slightly, raising an eyebrow at the oddly calm man who was staring the opposite direction of the camp at the dense forest surrounding the hilltop.

"Why not?"

He heard the children shift and they all dropped their gazes.

"Zil'ha?"

It was Mure who spoke up, his voice still high and tense, "because this is Emar, the perfect place to set up a slave trade camp." He looked back but Ronon met him with a blank expression. "The planet is covered with booby traps left over from the Emaron Civil War." He sighed, "between that and no gate...we might have been better off back in the camp."

_TBC_


	6. Whatever It Takes

**A/N: So...I wrote this fic so I could stick Ronon with a bunch of kids (and hopefully cut off his dreads at some point)...not so I could come up with brilliant ways for McKay to track him down. :) -pj **

**A/N2: AST = Atlantis Standard Time  
**

Ronon held one hand out to the side, fingers splayed and stiff. And, as he knew he would, Sobiin walked right into it. The kid had been at his elbow all day.

"Stop," He said sharply, both to the boy and the entire entourage trailing behind.

Sobiin looked up with a frown.

"What?" but even with the skeptism in his tone, he mimicked the gesture to the children behind him, halting Kiy in her tracks and she grabbed Hayn by the hand to keep the boy stationary as well. Mure and Zil'ha stopped not far behind.

Ignoring the question and the frown, Ronon tilted his head at the strange scratch marks on the ground ten feet ahead and squinted. With a glanced warning at the others to stay still, he saw a sizable rock sitting on the edge of their impromptu trail. Picking it up, he tested it's weight in his hand. It would do.

Using a light but purposeful toss, he threw it to land directly on the scratch marks, immediately overhead he heard a slight cracking and stepped aside just in time to avoid being impaled by a row of sharp, wooden stakes that swung down from among the branches to his left. It was a trap, not unlike the one he and Rodney had encountered on the planet where Jennifer had been kidnapped.

He thought he recognized those scratch marks.

Once the contraption slowed down it hung innocently amidst the small clearing where they stood amongst the trees. With a nod, Ronon glanced around, seeing no other signs of danger nearby, began again on his way. Completely missing the open-mouthed gaping from the children and hard swallows from the men.

Ronon strode purposefully around the crude impaling mechanism and after a few moments, the rest of his group followed. Sobiin jogged up beside him and was the first to speak.

"How'd you do that?"

Ronon barely glanced at him, "I threw a rock."

The boy shook his head, blonde locks shaking messily around his ears, "no, I mean how'd you know it was there?"

Ronon went a few steps, which were half the number of steps Sobiin had to take to cover the same distance, before answering.

"Seen it before."

Sobiin frowned at the ground, distractedly pulling a few leaves off a bush as they passed it, "well, so have I, but I didn't know it was there." He said, almost to himself.

Ronon slid his eyes over again, not turning his head but looking more fully at the boy.

"You have?" he asked, not quite believing the boy.

"Yeah, I have," Sobiin shrugged one shoulder, tearing the leaves into tiny pieces, "we didn't come to this planet alone, you know."

Ronon frowned involuntarily at the boy's admission but didn't say anything. He climbed over a fallen tree trunk with little effort, able to do so with one step on top and the next over. Sobiin half crawled, half jumped over since going around wasn't an option with a sharp drop off of a cliff on one side and a steady brook on the other. Once on the other side he turned back to help Hayn over, taking the child from Kiy when she held him out to him. Kiy then struggled to gain footing on the rotting stump so Mure leaned down to help. Almost instantly she shrunk away from his touch, throwing him a deep set scowl.

"Don't touch her!" Sobiin ordered sharply. Mure immediately pulled back his hands and suffered through the hateful glare Sobiin subjected him to the entire time the boy helped Kiy cross the log.

Ronon watched the scene from a slight distance, his arms crossed and eyes narrowed, all the while keeping one eye on Hayn who had a tendency to wander off to look for treburs hiding in the dirt. He found himself wondering at the obvious distrust the Sobiin had toward, as far as he could tell, everyone.

After they had all gotten over the inconvieniently placed log they began on their journey again, though not as quickly as Ronon would have liked, who was used to a slightly more brisk speed. But the pace the short-legged children were able to keep made the pace McKay usually kept seem record-breaking.

---

"Any chance we can pick up his wraith transmitter signal like last time?" Woolsey asked hopefully, his hands folded and shoulders hunched over the briefing room table.

"We don't think he's with the wraith." John said quietly, his pursed lips and terse tone indicitive of a sleepless night.

"Why not?"

"The Quari trader the tavern keeper led us to says he got paid well for luring us to the planet so they could capture Ronon. Wraith usually just pay with death by feeding."

"The trader? You think his information is reliable?" Woosley sounded more than a little skeptical.

"It better be, or I'm gonna have to beat him a hell of a lot worse than I already have," John stated so evenly it made boty Teyla and Rodney draw back. Woolsey sent him an appalled look, "What do you want me to do Woolsey? Ronon's been gone for almost 75 hours AST which can be a lifetime in this galaxy and The Ancient Mind Reading device is still broken from the last time Rodney got it out to play with it."

"Hey, it's not like I haven't been busy with other things-"

"What about his subcutaneous transmitter? Can we not detect him?" Teyla interjected, ending both the argument and the digression.

Rodney shook his head, immediately rejecting the idea. "No, it wouldn't work. Subcutaneous transmitters are designed for use between points on a single planet or between the planet and a ship in orbit. To be used from one end of the galaxy to the other it would have to be the size of a Chevy which, as you might guess, would not be very comfortable implanted in your arm."

Teyla visibly deflated, her eyes flickering darkly to John's, his own perpetual optimism somewhat dampened by Rodney's quick dismissal of Teyla's idea.

But just then Rodney's mouth dropped open slightly, his eyes glazing over in that look that either said 'I'm brilliant' or 'I'm having a seizure'.

John sat up, leaning forward eagerly, "What is it McKay?"

Rodney shot up from his chair and left the briefing room, immediately heading for the control center at the top of the stairs. John, Teyla and Woosley followed him out and by the time they caught up with him Rodney had commandeered a junior officer's chair and laptop, his fingers flying furiously over the keys.

"I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner!" Rodney grumbled to himself.

"Care to share with the class, McKay?" Sheppard asked, drawing up behind McKay's chair and staring with forced concentration at the unintelligible lines of code on the screen.

"I'm recalibrating the long range sensors to scan for the specific frequency that the subcutaneous transmitters run on."

"I thought you said the transmitter signal was not strong enough to be detected across the galaxy?" Teyla said from beside him.

"It's not. That's why I'm recalibrating the sensors, just like when Ronon had the wraith transmitter, only it's our own bug this time."

As McKay stopped speaking the letters and numbers on the screen were replaced with a schematic of the galaxy with flashing red dots floating above some of the planets.

"Good job, McKay," Sheppard said, and continued quickly before the scientist could gloat, "Okay, we can rule out groups of transmitters. That's where our off-world teams are."

"This is Dr. Harlow, she's administering vaccines to a nomadic group on MN6-TW2." Woosley pointed to a lone flashing transmitter in the bottom left corner.

"And this is Sergeant Farnsworth. Visiting his girlfriend on HG8-KP4." Sheppard pointed to a indicator in the middle on the right.

"What about this one?" Teyla pointed a slender finger to a flashing red light above a small planet slightly off to the right of center near the top of the screen.

Sheppard looked at it and nodded, "McKay, any gates near that planet?"

"I'm way ahead of you," he looked up expectantly as the gate chevrons began locking into place. But just before the last chevron locked, the gate fizzled and burned out.

"Oh no no no no no no. This is not good. I can't get the gate to lock in."

"Well then fix it." Sheppard ordered sharply.

"I can't. There's nothing wrong with the gate. There must be something a problem with the Planet's DHD."

Sheppard grit his teeth, his hands on his hips as he paced furiously in front of the control consoles. "What about a puddle jumper?"

Rodney began typing again, "the nearest gate is a 10 day trip by jumper."

"The Deadalus will be here in three." Woolsey added, "it can pick you up, drop off it's cargo and get you to this planet within six."

Sheppard turned to glare at the planet.

The smartest thing to do would be wait for the Deadalus, it would shave four days off their trip.

Sheppard was just hoping that wasn't still six days too many.

---

"Is it done?" Vorna looked up slowly from her papers, long dark strands of hair falling purposefully into her face.

"Yes ma'am. The Ring Dial is fully disabled. They will not be able to leave this planet."

Vorna looked reluctantly pleased at this and went back to writing, "prepare the search parties. We leave at dawn."

"Commander Tau, I lost three men in the break-out yesterday and two more in traps on the way to the gate, perhaps we could-"

Vorna jumped to her feet, her hair flying out of her face as she launched the hated pen across the small room, slamming her hands on the top of her table in a fit of rage, "do you wish to join them, Sentry?!"

"No, Commander," the tall man straightened, respectfully averting his eyes.

She pulled a knife from the top of her thigh-high boot and held it at the tip of his chin, "because I would sooner cut out your tonge than listen to one more word of your sorry, sniveling _complaints_."

"Yes, Commander."

"Now, make yourselves ready," she said, in a low, murderous tone, "and the next time I ask you to look after a prisoner in my absence, it would be in your best interests _not _to dissapoint me."

_TBC_


	7. Sort of like Vacation, But More Work

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews everybody! Enjoy some John angst in this chap along with a bit of Ronon humour and kiddie fluff. :) -pj **

It wasn't the first time Sheppard had covered a self-defense class for Ronon, but it was the first time he'd resented it. Because the fact that he was there today, meant Ronon was still minimum five days away from being back in Atlantis where he belonged.

And nothing pissed off John Sheppard like waiting around for his ride.

"Alright men I want 100 more and I mean five minutes ago." His tone was flat but sharp, crisp and lacking room for argument.

The dozen marines lined up in front of Sheppard were drenched in sweat and breathing hard. Most slowly, stiffly, began to move back into the battle ready position they'd been taught, per Sheppard's orders, one brave soul, however turned his head slightly to look at his CO.

"Permission to speak freely, sir."

"Make it quick, Lance Corporal."

"Colonel, the company is tired, we've already been at this for an hour. Maybe a break is in order, sir."

"I'll decide when and if you get a break, Lance Corporal. You think the wraith stop to give you breathers when you're in hand-to-hand?" Sheppard snapped, advancing quickly into the Marines personal space.

"No sir."

"No not the last time I checked, so you'll be at this for another hour or three if that's what it take for you to get it right, is that understood, Marine?"

The young man squared his shoulders and turned to look straight ahead, "yes sir."

"Good. Now do it."

Immediately the Marines obeyed, their muscles trembling under the strain. Lorne, who was there waiting to begin his weapon training, which was scheduled to begin fifteen minutes ago, stepped forward.

"A word, Col?"

John flicked his eyes at him and nodded, leaving the trainees under Captain Meyer's supervision.

"Can I do something for you, Major?" John asked when he and his CO2 were in a secluded corner of the gym.

"No sir, just thought we could chat for a minute." Lorne said, casually looking at his 9mm and checking to see if it was loaded.

Sheppard narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, unsure of whether or not to believe him, "chat, huh?"

Lorne nodded and smiled to himself, "Yes sir, chat."

Sheppard nodded, his brow still slightly furrowed as Lorne flicked the safety back on and put his weapon in his holster.

"Chat about what, Evan?"

Lorne still didn't look at the Colonel, looping his thumbs through his belt he watched with faked concentration as the Marine's continued their exercises.

"Ronon," Lorne continued quickly at the sight of John's spine stiffening and his frown deepening, "we're going to get him back, sir. I know you hate waiting, if it were one of my men I'd feel the same. Hell, he isn't one of my men and I feel the same, but working these marines into the ground isn't going to get the Deadalus here any quicker."

He finally looked at the John, a question in his eyes.

Sheppard pursed his lips and sighed, knowing the Major was right, on both accounts.

He nodded.

Lorne dipped his chin once in return, "nice chat, sir."

Then he turned and walked back to the group of exhausted marines, ordering them to get their asses into the firing range pronto and if anyone was willing to explain why they were wasting their time with calisthenics when they were supposed to be getting introduced to ARGs today he'd love to hear about it.

Sheppard watched them all file out and, when he was sure he was alone, allowed the tension to seep from his body and slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

He really wished Ronon had been there to run his own damn class today.

---

"I'm hungry."

"I'm tired."

"I'm thirsty too."

"And tired."

"Hayn's hungry. His stomach's been making noises for hours."

"Mine too."

Ronon growled, turning a stern glare on the whining children. The sky had grown dark, fast approaching dusk, but he was not yet hungry or tired.

"You two complain more than McKay," he said, not pausing or slowing down.

"Who's McKay?" Kiy looked longingly at a bush full of berries that they past. She bit her lower lip and glanced at Ronon and then reached out to swipe some.

"Don't eat those Kiy."

She looked up. He hadn't even turned around!

"Why not?" She asked petulantly.

"They'll make you sick."

"But I'm hungry!" She said, stamping her little foot. Ronon stopped abruptly and rounded on the girl, Sobiin instantly jumping between them. He looked up at Ronon defiantly, his intent not at all concealed.

"Um, Ronon, a word?" Mure reached out and hooked his hand into Ronon's arm, pulling him away a few feet, all the while unaware of the appalled look Ronon was giving him. People usually _asked_ before they touched him.

"What?" He asked sharply.

"Oh, um," he seemed startled by Ronon's intimidating glare and took a half a step back, "well, I was just thinking that maybe we ought to stop for the night."

"Stop?"

"Yes. We've been walking since yesterday night and have only rested twice. The children are small and tired. Could we not build a fire, cook something to eat and get some rest?"

Ronon narrowed his eyes, stepping further into Zil'ha's personal space.

"Setting a fire would give away our position to the guards out looking for us."

"N-no," Mure stammered and pointed skyward, "the clouds are low today. Foggy. There would be no way to distinguish from the sky a cook fire."

Ronon didn't move for several moments, Zil'ha growing increasingly more uneasy under his glare, and then finally nodded.

"Fine. Once I clear the area for traps we can camp here for the night. Then I'll hunt us some dinner," he glanced around, "can any of you build a fire?"

All but Hayn, who was distracted playing in the mud of a nearly dried up stream at his feet, nodded.

Excited grins erupted across the children's faces and they waited patiently for Ronon to give them the go ahead before flopping themselves on the ground in delight.

---

Ronon had almost forgotten about Maya, until he'd seen the tree earlier that day in a few places and was pleased to find a small clump of them near where they'd decided to make camp for the night. He'd often used the numbing root as a runner since it dulled pain without dulling the senses like so many of the Earther's pain killers. And right now, just like back then, he needed to be able to focus. Act. React.

He waited until the children and Mure and Zil'ha were asleep, having volunteered to take first watch, not that he would have slept anyway. He'd gone seven years without sleep and it wasn't a habit easily broken.

Leaving the heat and light of the fire, he retraced their steps from earlier for about thirty feet until he came to the Maya tree. The leaves were purple on one side, the skin on the trunk was thick and brittle just like he remembered.

Pulling a knife from his boot, he jammed it hard into the tree, pulling away the bark to revel the deep-purple, spongy insides. With some effort, and a bit of pain from his bad shoulder, he was able to cut out a piece of the surprisingly wet substance, purple juice running down his arms as he did so. He stuffed a handful in his mouth, chewing carefully.

"What's that?"

Ronon dropped his arms whirled around, his knife at the ready, only to find Kiy's wide brown eyes staring back at him. He sighed and immediately dropped his arms to his sides, annoyed and somewhat unnerved at how close she'd gotten without him detecting her. Sobiin appeared beside Kiy a few moments later but a quick glance over their shoulders revealed Hayn was still fast asleep.

Ronon turned back to the tree, still chewing, and collected some of the leaves with his good arm.

"Maya," he answered simply.

Kiy and Sobiin exchanged a look, confirming that neither one nor the other had ever heard of such a thing.

"Is it good?" Kiy asked, eyeing the purple gash in the side of the tree with interest.

Ronon glanced at her, "no."

Sobiin narrowed his eyes suspiciously and stepped forward, "I want to try."

Ronon paused in his leaf gathering and raised an eyebrow. Then he turned, sticking his knife back into the wounded tree and cutting out a piece of the insides much smaller thank his had been. He handed it to the boy.

Sobiin studied the 'Maya', sniffed it, studied it some more, then glanced at Kiy who was waiting eagerly for his reaction and Ronon, who's expression was unreadable.

He popped the purple substance into his mouth, had not tasted it for more than a few seconds before his face contorted with disgust and he spit it out, gagging violently.

A small smile tugged the corners of Ronon's mouth and he started back to the camp, the children in tow.

Bad?" Kiy asked, her nose wrinkled in sympathetic repulsion.

Sobiin responded by using his shirt to wipe the remnants of the taste off his tongue.

"Why are you eating that?" he asked, his tone that of amazement tinged with horror.

"Pain killers." Ronon answered, now sitting cross-legged by their small fire. He unwrapped his arms where there were still bleeding cuts and began spreading the leaves on the wounds.

A few moments later the children also returned to the warm glow of the fire, both watching with morbid fascination as Ronon carefully rewrapped his wounds with the leaves. He absently spat a mouthful of Maya juice into the fire, causing the flames to flicker harmlessly with purple light as he worked on a difficult gash across his palm from a too-close call with a trap earlier that day.

"Whoa!" Sobiin exclaimed.

Kiy smiled gleefully and she sat forward, "do that again!"

Ronon usually swallowed all the bitter juices as it helped speed up the numbing effect, but for some reason he didn't this time. Not all of it anyway.

Maybe four years of 'Lantean food had given him a soft stomach and he could only take the most minimal dose of the pungent plant before becoming nauseas. Maybe he thought the Maya leaves on his arms and torso would be help enough. Or maybe it had something to do with the way Sobiin and Kiy's eyes lit up every time he caused the little fireworks display that, for some reason, seemed to have the same painkilling effect on his injuries.

_TBC_


	8. Time Heals All Wounds, I Hope

**A/N: I'm a little off my game right now b/c for some reason my muse is being bratty and unusually tight lipt, but I hope the chapter is acceptable and I apologize for any typos. Thanks again to all my reviewers (I'm a little behind on my replys too...) You guys rock!!!! -pj **

Morning came quicky on this planet, and even quicker with Ronon waking his entire company before the sun had fully broken, insisting they get a move on.

"We're a day and a half further from the gate than we should be." He responded to any grumbling about the long hours they were all pulling.

Kiy rubbed her eyes and stretched, but quickly noticed Ronon starting to make his way on the trail he designated and picked up Hayn, who both she and Sobiin knew would not wake until he was good and ready to do so.

"Why do we have to start so early?" Kiy asked petulantly, grunting under the smaller boy's weight.

Sobiin quickly came to her aid, giving his back to her so she could place Hayn's arms around his neck, his chubby legs encircling the older boy's waist automatically.

"The guards, remember Kiy?" Sobiin responded. Though he tried hard not to show it, Kiy could tell he was just as tired as she.

Mure collected some smoked _weersha_ meat from the fire and handed it out for breakfast.

"So-biiin." Kiy whined, dragging her feet as she set out to follow him, the leaves, still wet with morning dew, smacked her face as she walked by and she swatted at them. She tore at her meat irritably, "I'm tired still."

Sobiin sighed heavily but ignored the girl's noisy protests to the hike. Kiy frowned deeply at the back of his blonde head, thoroughly envious of little Hayn, who was still sleeping peacefully atop Sobiin's back.

Her short footsteps slowed as an idea occurred to her and she stopped abruptly, turning to look at Mure and Zil'ha. She clasped her hands behind her back and smiled up sweetly at them.

"Can I have a ride?" She asked, her voice the sound of pure honey.

Mure and Zil'ha exchanged looks, "you're not going to give me that look again, are ya'?" The first asked.

Kiy quickly shook her head, "no, I wasn't sure at first but I think you two are okay."

"Okay?"

Kiy nodded, "yeah, not going to do anything bad to us. Right?"

They both shook their heads, "you three broke us out of the camp."

Kiy smiled wider, "That's right. So I can have a ride then?"

Mure looked ahead where Ronon had stopped, wondering what was taking everyone so long, and Sobiin was quickly putting more distance between the three of them, and closing the distance between himself and their Satedan guide.

He nodded, "sure. Hop up or we may be left behind."

Kiy smiled brightly and quickly made herself comfortable.

---

"Um, Dr. McKay, I think I've finished the last of the sector three sensor diagnostic protocols," a mousy young technician turned slightly in her chair, her brown hair caught back in a low ponytail shifted against her back as she waited for Rodney acknowledge her comment.

Rodney didn't look up from the tablet he had on his arm while he typed on the computer in front of him but he stood and made his way over to the young woman. Dr. Wyatt who'd been on his staff for the past year, he'd always liked her because of her thorough work and tendency not to speak unless she was spoken to.

He finally looked up from the tablet to check over the codes displayed on Dr. Wyatt's computer.

"Hm, okay it looks like you got the majority of it correct, just a slight discrepancy-"

"I'm sorry Dr. McKay I should have caught that, here please-" she practically leapt from her seat, already wincing in anticipation of the verbal beating she was expecting.

Rodney placed a calming hand on her shoulder, "its fine Mandy, I'll show you how to fix it that way next way you'll be able to do it without help, sound good?" He smiled and she hesitantly sat back down into the chair, lacing her hands tightly in her lap with a confused glance over her shoulder.

"O-okay."

"Okay," Rodney nodded once and highlighted the code on the computer where he'd found the problem, "you just need to make sure you keep your proxies straight and we'll be golden. Make sense?"

He looked down and Wyatt stared up at him through her thick framed glasses, delicate features relaxed in awe and disbelief.

"Uh, um, yes. Yes sir."

"Okay." And with that he returned to his station, back to sliding between two computers and his tablets, tackling as many problems as he could get his hands on, keeping the overactive gears in his mind going full speed.

Across the room Drs Zelenka and Crawford turned to give one another equally puzzled looks.

Under the pretense of bringing him a Phillips head screwdriver Crawford came to stand beside Zelenka. He held a small, round Ancient device steady for him as the senior scientists began removing the control panel cover.

"Did you see that?"

"Indeed I did, Dr. Crawford." Zelenka said quietly, moving to the next screw.

"Well…is he ill or something?" Dr. Crawford asked.

"No."

"Well then…what's gotten into him?"

Zelenka paused, his brow furrowed in concentration as he carefully began prodding at the device's inner hardware.

"You remember when Teyla was kidnapped by Micheal?" he asked quietly, neither of their voices raised much higher than a low whisper.

Crawford thought a moment and then nodded, "he let us go early every day that first week."

"And when the Colonel went missing for twelve days after that bizzare sunburst phenomena? He hardly raised his voice at anyone the entire time. He started using words like 'please' and 'thank you'. " Zelenka shuddered, "It was extremely unnerving."

"So…what you're saying is he won't be back to normal…"

"Until we get Ronon back."

The two exchanged a glance and Crawford sighed, "he freaks me out like this, I'm all jumpy waiting for him to explode. I hope we find Ronon sooner rather than later."

Zelenka nodded, chancing a quick glance at his friend who had added a computer to his arsenal and was now almost completely surrounded by them on all sides in his small desk area.

"I do as well, Dr. Crawford, for everyone's sake."

---

The hair on the back of his neck went up just seconds before it happened, not enough time to do anything but know there was nothing he could do.

He'd grown accustomed to and quickly tuned out the noise made by his party early on, so as to keep an ear out for approaching soldier's boots or the like. Mure and Zil'ha were chatting constantly as they had the day before, but now their adult voices were intermingled with the sound of quiet but high-pitched laughter when Kiy would find something they said or did funny.

There was also the steady clomp-clomp of Sobiin's boots as he took meticulous care to step exactly in Ronon's footsteps as he'd been instructed. Ronon rather liked the boy, like himself he hardly ever spoke, and as long as Hayn was on his back, the smaller boy seemed content to just watch the world crawl by at a walking pace as well.

But then the world went dead, for a moment all the wildlife in the forest was silent as they, at the same millisecond as Ronon, realized something was wrong.

There was a spectacular crashing sound accompanied by screams. By the time he'd whirled around Sobiin was already racing back toward them, but he would be too late. They both would be.

Ronon registered the screaming stopping almost as suddenly as it had begun and understood that it had to do with the fact that Mure, Zil'ha and Kiy had disappeared from view.

"Sobiin." He stopped the boy with a hand on his shoulder as he breezed past.

"But Ronon-" he protested immediately, knowing the meaning of Ronon's unspoken order.

"Get back now. With Hayn." Ronon pointed at the toddler who was left standing alone in the spot where Sobiin had dropped him when he turned to go back to Kiy.

Not waiting to see if his order was followed, Ronon cautiously approached the side of the sinkhole and was just barely able to make out eight tiny fingers holding onto the edge. A sweeping glance of the brush nearby told him he'd walked only a few feet to the left of the trap. He hadn't seen any signs of it and apparently, neither had the others.

He dropped onto his stomach and scooted forward in the dirt.

"Sobiin, Sobiin help," Kiy cried pitifully, her panic stricken voice made small with fear. Her small fingers were gripping the side of the hole for her life, her boots searching for a foothold and finding none on the slick earth that made up the sides of the opening.

Ronon reached the edge and instinctively grabbed for her hands.

"Ronon!" She yelped, feeling her weight shift. He didn't wait for another fearful cry. Quickly readjusting his hold so that he had her forearms instead of her hands, he pulled her up.

He pushed the child away from him and back toward safety lest the ground he lay on further gave way and immediately turned back. His ears were perked for any sound of life coming from below, hoping to hear Mure or Zil'ha groaning, breathing, hell, he'd take laughing in that moment if it meant they were alive.

But he knew it was all for naught.

Kiy ran to Sobiin, sobbing uncontrollably even before she buried her head in his shirt.

The boy watched as Ronon again turned his head and peered down into the sinkhole. His stomach felt uncomfortably tight as he held Kiy's trembling body against him.

Ronon pursed his lips and took a deep breath, that did nothing to ease the tension in his chest.

Mure and Zil'ha never had a chance. Their bodies, what was left of them, were contorted and impaled on hundreds of the same long, sharp spikes that had been on the first booby trap Ronon had encountered. The gruesome sight of pierced flesh and running blood left him swallowing repeatedly to keep down the bile. His only respite came in knowing their deaths had been quick.

It must have been because she was on Mure's back, just a little bit further from the ground than the other two and able to make a desperate grab for the edge of the sinkhole that Kiy survived.

Sobiin absently rubbed Kiy's back all the while watching Ronon's reaction to the scene below. Ronon wasn't one to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but Sobiin had learned as a child how to read subtle body language. He saw Ronon's shoulders tense, and noticed the way he pursed his lips and grit his teeth.

When Ronon's green eyes finally met the young boy's brown ones, he knew. He bowed his head sadly.

"Mure and Zil'ha?" Kiy asked, stepping away from Sobiin and toward Ronon. She swiped a hand absently across her eyes, he six-year-old mind not allowing her to belive what she knew to be true, "aren't you going to go down to them? They need help Ronon," she told him.

Her voice changed from tearful to desperate when Ronon didn't move, "Ronon please help them! Please!"

Her face was smuged with mud and contorted with agony when, instead of moving toward the hole, he started to crawl away from it.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" she whirled around, "Sobiin, _help them_!"

"Kiy-"

Not wanting to hear him, unable to comprehend the crushing weight of grief that was killing her she turned and made to rush back toward the opening. Ronon moved but Sobiin was closer, he caught her arm and pulled her back to him.

"They're gone Kiy," he stated calmly.

"No!" She outright screamed this time, and Ronon flinched. Not because if there were guards nearby she was no doubt alerting them to their position, but because the girl seemed so crushed, so utterly destroyed by the loss of two people she'd only known for a few days.

"Sobiin don't say that. Don't say it!" She shook her head violently, struggling to pull away as fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

Ronon watched as Sobiin dropped to his knees, taking Kiy by both arms and holding her writhing body still.

"Kiy listen to me. You must be brave Kiylisa."

At the use of her full name the small child stilled some, her hysterics dulled down to uncontrollable sniffles.

"You must be brave, like you were on Breal'four."

Kiy became motionless instantly.

Sobiin dipped his chin, "you understand?"

Kiy dropped her eyes to the ground and then nodded. With a single glance over her shoulder, as if hoping to see Mure and Zil'ha one last time, she pulled out of Sobiin's grip and stepped around him, taking Hayn's hand. The smallest boy looked troubled, searching the other's faces with wide eyes, waiting for someone to explain what was happening. Without looking at the toddler she led him up ahead a little bit.

"Wait for Ronon, Kiy." Sobiin advised. Kiy stopped, but didn't turn back, merely waiting patiently for the others to return.

"Why didn't you see that one?" Sobiin asked quietly. Ronon glanced down, noting that Sobiin's tone held neither hostility nor accusation. He pulled a knife from his waist and knelt beside the hole, having found the ground around it was stable.

"War was a long time ago," he picked at tree roots and underbrush that were growing on all sides of the gaping hole, "this forest stood undisturbed for many years. Any signs of the trap were grown over a long time ago." He sighed again and looked at his fallen comrades, the familiar shadow of guilt crossing his face.

"I'm sorry, my friends," he murmured. Then without another word or explanation Ronon stood to cut down a few large, leafy branches from nearby bushes and Sobiin silently helped him cover the gap. It wouldn't fool anyone who passed by closely, but from a few paces away it should cover up the fact that they were there.

Once again ready to go, Ronon pulled out ahead, Kiy and Hayn following behind while Sobiin stayed at his side.

"What happened on Breal'four?" Ronona asked after nearly an hour of relative silence, if you didn't count Hayn's near constant unintelligible chatter. Sobiin didn't seem surprised by the question, but he didn't answer right away. First he glanced over his shoulder to be sure Kiy wasn't listening, she wasn't, too preoccupied keeping Hayn on their impromptu trail to focus on anything else.

"Kiy's parents were killed there in a fire." He said quietly.

Ronon's stomach clenched, and they walked several paces futher before he asked, "how long ago?"

There was another long pause and Ronon waited and his breath hitched with the two words Sobiin muttered several moments later.

"Three months."

_TBC_


	9. The Big Bang

**A/N: My apologies for the delay in this update, my newly discovered NCIS obsession is really putting the hurtin' on my SGA muse. But, in any case, here is the next chap. Much luv to all my reviewers _Asugar _- rofl! I wasn't sure it would work, glad you liked! (enjoy the J/T in this chap!), _babyshan211 _- I sowy, _anomalymona _- your wish is my command!, _Nika Dixon _- Thanks! I thought I'd try something different for our fave Mr. crankypants, _warrior of the shadow_ - fo sho'. lol. Me either!** **-pj **

"Is there such a thing as too much meditation?"

Teyla's eyes snapped open and her smile was slow as she glanced over her shoulder.

"Hello John."

Sheppard entered the jumper and, with some difficulty, was able to coax his legs into a folded sitting position like Teyla's, "I didn't know the cargo hold of a jumper was your meditative spot of choice."

"It is not," she admitted, resting her hands in her lap, "but I find the Deadalus to be rather…cramped."

"And the jumper isn't?" He asked slowly, with a grin and raised eyebrow.

Teyla shrugged and self-conciosly returned his smile, "I know. It does not make sense."

"No, it doesn't," John agreed, and then nodded, "but I get it."

She watched him carefully for a few moments and then decided she believed him. His carefully placed grin faded slowly and his eyes glazed over with a faraway look. A look she recognized, being away from Atlantis seemed to wear on him in a way most did not take the time to notice. But she did. The connection he had with their fair city was rivaled only by the connection he felt to his team.

Her eyes dropped to the floor as the silence stretched out between them and the air grew tense.

She sighed, "how much longer until we reach the planet?"

John's answering sigh sounded equally weary, "Two days, eighteen hours and forty-nine minutes," he paused, "McKay could be more accurate though."

Teyla smiled at his attempt to poke fun, but continued seriously, "Who do you think it is that took him?"

He shrugged, his jaw tightening almost imperceptibly, "I don't know. It's a big galaxy. Any number of people could have a beef with him, us or the whole damn expedition."

Teyla's face scrunched with confusion, "beef? Is that the meat dish served in the Mess on weekends?"

John smiled, "yeah."

He didn't elaborate and his knowing grin made Teyla smile and shake her head.

"You are an odd man, John Sheppard."

"I like to keep people confused."

"You succeed," she teased. John leaned back against the bench behind him and stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankles.

"Why don't you teach me?" He asked after a moment.

Teyla looked at him questioningly, "to make beef?"

"No," he smiled, nudging her playfully with his knee, "to meditate. I've never been very good at it, but…" he trailed off and finished with a shrug.

Teyla straightened, considering his request.

"What?"

She looked up.

"You're smiling."

Her grin widened when she realized he was right. "Nothing," she shook her head, "it is just that the last time I tried to teach someone to meditate it did not go exactly according to plan."

"Oh? Who was that?"

"Ronon," she almost started to laugh as she the memory replayed in her mind, "he fell asleep."

John chuckled softly, "that sounds like the big guy," his own smile turend slightly nostalgic and he continued quietly, "remember that planet with hurricane storms every half hour?"

"Yes. We took shelter in a cave for the night and none of us could sleep because of the noise outside."

"Except Ronon. Slept the whole night through."

"I believe the phrase you use is 'slept like a baby'." Teyla supplied.

"Yeah, a baby with dozens of concealed knives and a death grip on his weapon even when he's sound asleep."

Their subdued laughter bounced off the walls of the small craft and slowly died away. John cleared his throat uncomfortably and sat up straight again.

"Anyway," he shrugged and looked at his boots, Teyla felt the air change with his mood, "I have a strict 'no reminiscing until someone is actually dead' rule so how about those lessons?"

The change in topic was abrupt, even for John, but Teyla accepted it with her usual grace and dipped her chin once. She closed her eyes.

"You begin by taking slow, deep breaths…"

---

"Wow."

Ronon glanced over and found Sobiin staring in wide-eyed awe at the small shelter he'd built into a thick of trees, camouflaged in such a way that it was virtually invisible until you were right on top of it.

"How'd you learn to build like this?"

Ronon merely raised an eyebrow and returned to fastening the sticks to the roof, "my grandfather." He answered gruffly, wedging some sticks into place and covering them with a layer of mud.

"What are you doing?"

Ronon didn't have to look to know the younger voice belonged to Kiy.

"Putting on a roof." He said simply.

"Why?"

"Rain."

"I don't see any clouds."

Ronon paused and sent her a look that was either exhasperation or amusement, then returned to his work. After a few moments he felt their gazes leave his skin and glanced up to see the children had gone back to searching for more wood, carefully staying within the perimeter he'd declared safe.

The rest of the day had gone down without incident, but with all the children, even Hayn, staying uncharacteristically quiet. The weight of death hung heavily on their small shoulders.

The good news was that they were probably only a half-days journey from the gate at their current pace. The bad news was that as the day drug on, the 'current pace' kept dropping slower and slower and Ronon finally had to concede to making camp for the night because his young companions were near death with exhaustion.

The first thing Hayn had done when they stopped was plop down in a clump of soft moss at the base of a tree and fall asleep with his thumb stuck securely in his mouth. He was now awake again but just sitting there in the same spot, digging around in the soft mud beneathe the moss to see what he could find.

Ronon looked up sharply when Kiy squealed and saw her hastily brush a black, slimy insect off her shoulder. She turned and began chasing Sobiin around their small thick of trees with a stick she'd retrieved from the forest floor. The boy was laughing and Kiy hissing threats in their mother tounge while Hayn giggled and clapped happily.

A smile kicked up the corner of Ronon's mouth at the carefree nature of the scene and he was struck by a thought that had not occurred to him since the first wraith attack on Sateda.

After shooting down the two wraith scouts that came through the ring the six city blocks closest to it were evacuated into the long unusued underground caverns beneathe the city. Ronon had been among the patrols to ensure the safe movement of the population while preparations were made for a more permanent relocation.

He remembered the dust and dirt and cobwebs that coated everything. He remembered walking past groups of crying women and pale men who clung to his uniform as he passed, begging for help and protection. He'd assured them as best he could and pushed on, unable to do anything more than what was already being done. And then he'd come to a cavern where several tunnels came together in a large, high room with high ceilings. And there, in the middle, with distraught adults lining the walls around them, a group of children a little bit older than Kiy had gathered together scraps of cloth, tied them into a tight bundle and were playing a makeshift game of Wylla, their soft whoops of victory echoing off the dirty walls and dim yellow light everytime one would make a point and kick the 'ball' into the other team's red zone.

Ronon had been struck then, just as he was now, but the unnatural resiliency and strength, the kind most adults strived to possess, that children seemed to have by design.

Whoever Sobiin, Kiy and Hayn had come to this planet with was obviously dead. Kiy's own parents had been gone no longer than three months and just his morning the three had witnessed the deaths of two people who, granted they couldn't exactly be called friends, but their absence was felt acutely all the same.

And yet, here they were, laughing and chasing each other around the trees as if nothing had happened at all.

He smiled and shook his head. And people said he was strong.

Ronon returned to his work and was putting the finishing touches on the shelter when he heard a small click that immediately raised the hairs on his neck.

"Stop!" He practically shouted and spun around to face the children again. Instinctively they obeyed, eyes wide at the severity of his tone.

"What's wrong-"

"Where's Hayn?" he ignored Sobiin's half finished question, seeing that the spot where the toddler had been at the foot of the large moss covered tree was now empty.

"He was right here," Kiy said, spinning in a small circle as she searched the surrounding area for the boy.

"Don't move," Ronon ordered sharply. To his left he heard a slight rustling of clothing and a soft whimper.

"Biin?"

Ronon quickly moved in the sound of the voice and parted a thick of branches and leaves and his eyes landed on the dark green tunic and blonde haired head of the missing child.

"Be still Hayn." Ronon said again, but he had a feeling the little boy had felt the ground give beneath him and the soft click that accompanied his weight, because the perpetually moving toddler had miraculously frozen.

"R'non?" He said in a small voice, he turned his head a little to look over his shoulder and Ronon caught sight of red juice on his chin and shirt. The bush he'd just pushed aside to get to the child was covered in red berries. Apparently Hayn had gotten hungry and wandered carelessly outside the 'safe' perimeter Ronon had established.

The Satedan closed the distance between himself and the child and knelt on the ground in front of him. With two gentle fingers he carefully pushed aside the dirt surrounding Hayn's foot and found the smooth surface and straight edges of a platform underneath. A mine.

He sucked in a breath and turned to the other children, finding they had followed him away from the safety of the camp.

"Get back now," he ordered, he pointed to a large boulder 30 paces away that he'd built the back of their shelter against. Kiy obeyed immediately but Sobiin protested.

"Ronon I can help."

Ronon felt his skin growing warm as his hearbeat sped up. He'd seen what land mines could do, they were a common defense against wraith drones who came through the ring on foot. If this mine was anything like those they used on Sateda, one false move from Hayn and everything within twenty feet would be obliterated.

"Go now, Sobiin," he glanced up and saw Kiy had stopped halfway when she realized she was alone, "go with Kiy."

Sobiin stood still for several more moments, studying the scene, a war waging behind his cobalt blue eyes. Finally, just as Ronon was about to order him away again he turned and ran back, grabbing Kiy's arm to pull her along the rest of the way to the shelter of the boulder.

Ronon turned back to the smallest child who was now whimpering, having picked up on the worry in the air.

Keeping a steadying hand on he boy's arm, Ronon looked around quickly. They were in a dense forest, there were rocks and trees around but very little to provide cover. Then he spotted it. About eight feet directly behind him was a large, dead tree laying on it's side. It would be a leap, but he could probably do it. Would have to do it.

He looked back at Hayn and, realizing he should probably say something reassuring, he frowned thoughtfully.

"Okay, Hayn, you have to…"

The boy's chin began to tremble more violently and he started to pull away. Ronon grabbed both his arms quickly to prevent him from disturbing the mine and realized his voice was sharp, just further scaring him.

He cursed silently. He wasn't a damn babysitter. He was a soldier and a military commander. He didn't know how to coddle. Soldjers didn't need reassuring, they needed orders.

Ronon caught sight of movement in the corner of his eye. Kiy and Sobiin were peeking out from behind their shelter, waiting anxiously for Ronon and Hayn's safe return. He took a deep breath remembering that, being a military commander meant more than bringing your people home safe, it meant making sure they knew they were safe.

Like it or not, Sobiin, Kiy and Hayn were his people.

"Hayn, you're going to be okay," he said, being concious of his tone.

The boy opened both eyes and un-balled his tiny fists. Well, that was progress.

He thought a moment.

"We're going to go 'up' Hayn," Ronon said finally, referencing the simple game he'd seen Sobiin playing with the child on occasion.

His round face brightened immediately and he stuck his chubby arms straight into he air.

"Up!"

Ronon nodded.

"1…2…3!" he grabbed and lifted the child in the same motion, turning him and pulling him close to his chest as he forced his powerful legs to propel him high and back to land behind the fallen tree.

The explosion was as devastating as he'd anticipated and it sent dirt, rocks, sticks and debris flying in all directions.

Ronon was aware of screaming and burning pain before he fell into sweet oblivion.

---

Vorna's eyes were cool black pools of apathy as she stared down into the gaping hole in the earth at the corpses of two of her escaped belongings below.

"It looks to have happened yesterday some time."

She raised her eyes slowly to look at her second in command, he'd recently been promoted from third when her former Lieutenant failed to track the slow moving group of escapees as efficiently as she would have liked. She folded stiffly across her chest and stared at him.

The man looked at her and tensed, realizing she was waiting for him to say something else. He glanced back down the opening. He had hoped that finding the two escaped prisoners, albeit dead, would brighten her volatile mood somewhat, but it only seemed to have made it worse.

"Where are the _rest_ of them, Sin-Sentry?" She asked sharply.

"We think they went north, but we we're having trouble tracking them before," he said, talking quickly, "now that they are fewer in number they are hiding their tracks even better, but we _will find them_." He stressed the last part, hoping to save himself from the same fate the dead prisoners had suffered.

Vorna narrowed her eyes and turned her glare down into the hole.

"I hope you do," she looked back up at him, "for your sake, I really do."

_TBC_


	10. Time Keeps on Tickin' Tickin' Tickin'

**A/N: This fic has been a struggle to write since the beginning. Then, all of a sudden, last night the words just started pouring out! Not sure if they make any sense in the way I've put them together or if it's any good but, man was it fun!...Hm, don't know how many of you have read my other fics but...I seem to have some sort of weird facination with impaling people...sorry about that.****-pj **

Ronon hated coming out of unconsciousness. Didn't like the feeling of not being quite in control of his body. The strange 'floaty and detached, head full of cotton' feeling when everything seemed blurred and unrecognizable was bad enough. But then it was always followed by an abrupt drop into reality where pain and sound and light came into blinding clarity.

That he _really _hated.

He was first aware of dull light and a mixture of sounds and he thought was that he'd never heard Teyla cry before and the cause of his muddled mind had better not be anything stupid McKay had done. But these fuzzy musings had been quickly dismissed when pain came into the picture.

He was not aware enough at first to say where exactly he hurt, just that there was sharp, deep pain that seemed to cover his entire body and make it hard to breathe. He groaned slightly, turning his head and squeezing his eyes shut tighter.

"Ronon?" A tear-filled voice whispered.

Recognizing that the voice did not belong to any member of his team, he stopped moving and listened harder, while his senses grew more clear. The tearful voice was coming from just beside his head and, while there was not another voice to accompany it, he could hear the sound of someone shifting nervously near his legs.

His leg.

That's where the sharpest, most crippling pain was coming from, rivaled only by the throbbing in his left shoulder and head.

His memory came back suddenly, like the crack of a rubber-band.

Land mine. Explosion. Screaming.

The children.

His eyes snapped open and he started to sit up, only to have the pain in his leg drive him back to the ground, his head thumped hard against the packed dirt.

"Ronon! You're alive." Kiy said excitedly, she leaned over to wrap her arms around his neck, nearly choking him back into unconsciousness, before he pushed her away.

He blinked several times, looking around without moving.

"Where's Sobiin?" He asked finally. He was lying behind the fallen tree, at least, what was left of it. It had been blown to pieces in the blast and he had the splinters to prove it.

"Gone. He led them away."

Turning his head only slightly, he saw Kiy was back in her squatted position, skinny arms wrapped around her legs, chin resting on her knees as she stared wide-eyed at him.

"Who?" He asked gruffly, forcing the pain from his mind long enough to focus on Kiy's words.

"He said they heard the explosion. He took one of your big knives and led them away so they wouldn't find us," her chin trembled and she looked over her shoulder, "he hasn't come back yet."

Ronon growled deep in his throat, both in annoyance at the girl's inate ability to say everything while telling him nothing, and at the fact that while he'd been able to push it away to a throbbing corner of his brain, the pain in his leg was still excruciating.

He hadn't yet looked at it.

"Who is 'they', Kiylisa." He said, hoping the use of her full name would capture her attention.

It worked.

"Guards," she said, her voice rough and broke from tears and worry.

Ronon's heart froze in his throat and his eyes darted around with renewed sharpness. The sky was growing gray, soon it would be completely dark. He searched for the most minute movements in the bushes, listened for the sound of voices or dry brush snapping under boots. But there was nothing. There was no one around.

Thanks to Sobiin.

He grit his teeth. If he hadn't been so angry that the boy had put himself in danger, he would have been proud. He'd kept the others safe, including Ronon himself while he'd lay there useless and hurt.

At least he knew it hadn't been too long ago. The smoke from the explosion was still rising and the sky hadn't darkened too much.

Gathering his strength, he finally chanced a look down at his painful leg, knowing it was inevitable now.

It was almost as bad as he had imagined.

"From the explosion," came Kiy's whispered explanation when she caught his stare.

Ronon nodded grimly. He'd guessed that much.

He'd been right about the explosion of the landmine leveling everything within twenty feet. It had sent debris flying in all directions, just as he'd feared. He saw he'd managed to protect Hayn from the majority of the blast with his own body, and got a long, thick branch shot through his right thigh for his trouble.

He cursed in both Satedan and Earth.

Dropping his head back to the ground, he pursed his lips. There was really only one course of action he could take, he decided.

"Kiy," he waited and the girl turned her wide eyes to him, "I need to go after Sobiin, to help him."

She nodded but threw a nervous glance at his injury.

"The stick has to come out, Kiy," he said, his tone uncharacteristically gentle and quiet.

Again, Kiy nodded, not understanding his meaning.

Ronon took a deep breath, "_you_ need to get the stick out, Kiy." He knew he was saying her name with every sentence, hoped it was helping her not to panic.

She looked at his leg, then his face and back again.

"How?" She asked in a small voice.

Ronon sighed.

_This is gonna hurt_.

---

"Stop that Colonel." Caldwell growled, not taking his eyes off the report in his hand.

"Stop what?" John asked distractedly, continuing his back and forth trek across the bridge between Navigation on the starboard side and Weapons & Tactical on the port.

"Pacing," Caldwell snapped, spinning his chair around so that he was facing the younger Colonel, the hard lines of irritation on his face barely concealing an undercurrent of sympathy. He wasn't a stranger to the waiting game. Knew it made a man like Colonel Sheppard crazy not to be in control because he was the same way.

Sheppard seemed confused for a moment and then nodded. He moved his hands from his hips to his pockets and shrugged.

"Sorry," he muttered.

Caldwell's face softened slightly, "just twenty more hours Colonel. We'll get your man back." Then, with a curt nod, he turned his chair back around to face the large view screen at the front of the bridge and returned his attention to the report.

Sheppard's eyebrows raised in surprise. Of all the people he'd been expecting to receive an encouraging word from, Colonel Steven Caldwell hadn't been one of them. He was pretty sure the Career Colonel didn't even like _him_, let alone the stoic alien who had little patience for rules and even less for regs.

A slight smile kicked up the corner of his mouth and he nodded as if he'd made a decision.

"I'm going to go check on Rodney," he said to no one inparticular and turned to leave the bridge, suddenly not feeling so much like the walls were closing in. He still wasn't sure the Colonel was pushing his ship's hyper drive to it's absolute limit, but that fact, for some reason, was now just a little bit easier to deal with.

---

"Please Ronon, I don't want to do this," Kiy begged, tears streaming down her face freely as she shook her head, hair hopelessly messy and loose from her two long braids. Her face had blanched when he finally explained what he wanted her to do and the tears had begun again with new enthusiasm.

"Kiy, listen to me, Sobiin is in trouble. I have to help him before it's too late," he didn't allow himself even to think that it already was, "I need you to pull it out, Kiy. You can do it." He wished he didn't have to ask this of her, but knew he would never get it out on his own.

She continued shaking her head, eyes now squeezed shut at the sight of his blood-soaked clothing and the sheen of cold sweat covering his face and hands at the effort not crying out in pain was causing.

"Kiy." He said again, reaching out to grab her hand.

She gasped and stiffened involuntarily at the unexpected contact.

"You can do this, Kiy," he told her, locking his green eyes with her brown ones, "you must be strong, I know you can," he felt a little bit guilty at asking this of her. Knew someone so young and small shouldn't be asked to be strong so often. She was a little girl, a child. She shouldn't have to be strong. She shouldn't have to be brave. He should be able to protect her from this. She should be allowed to cry and be afraid.

But fear could and, most often, would get you killed.

Ronon knew that.

Kiy knew it too.

With a ragged breath and resolve written all over her face, she moved to sit astride Ronon's calf as she'd been instructed, using her slight weight as a brace. She called to him and Hayn came to sit behind her. Licking her chapped lips, her brow furrowed with determination and she slowly reached up to wrap her small hands around the part of the stick protruding from Ronon's leg.

Her eyes moved up to meet his and he could see her jaw tensing in preparation.

He reached over and picked up a thin, straight stick about the size of a chair leg from the dirt beside him and pushed it into his mouth, clamping his teeth down tightly.

_No matter what happens Kiy, don't stop. Don't stop. _

He heard his words from earlier ringing in his ears and knew by the hard, haunted look in Kiy's brown eyes that he was not the only one hearing them. Hayn sat quietly behind the slightly larger girl, his chubby arms wrapped tightly around her middle, his face pressed into her back.

Ronon nodded and Kiy pulled.

_TBC_


	11. The Brave Ones

**A/N: Surprised by the quick update? So am I. ****-pj **

Ronon fought the blackness. Oh, but it was sweet. And dark. And blissfully numb.

He pounded his fist into the dirt again, his eyes screwed shut tight.

He knew he'd screamed, he could feel the burn and scratchiness in his throat as testament. Knew he'd held back as much sound as he could and instead turned to thrashing his head from side to side and pounding his fists into the ground. Knew he'd bitten the piece of wood in his mouth in half.

Knew Kiy was crying again.

He took as deep a breath as his painstricken lungs would allow and the blackness fell further away.

He couldn't afford to be unconscious again. Sobiin was out there alone somewhere and no doubt needed him.

By pure force of will he was able to open his eyes again and pushed himself up to a sitting position, resting momentarily against a nearby tree.

His breathing was loud and heavy, as if he'd just finished a long morning run with Sheppard and he fought to get it back under control as he tore several strips of cloth from his shirt, his hands shaking with effort.

After he got the heavily bleeding wound in his leg tied off with a pitiful feild dressing, he slowly got to his feet, pulling himself up by the low branches of the tree he'd been leaning against. He almost fell back to the ground, forgetting his previously injured shoulder was not quite able to hold the full weight of him.

He did not forget again.

He spotted Sobiin's tracks in the dirt and started to go off and follow them, but stopped as the quiet sound of sniffles reached his ears.

_Kiy_.

He turned back and searched the trees for the other two children.

The were huddled together several feet away at the foot of a large tree with wide, sprawling roots. Kiy's eyes were red and puffy and she was no longer crying, but she held Hayn's smaller form to her with a white-knuckled grip.

With some effort, he knelt in front of her and dipped his chin until he caught her eyes. Her lower lip was caught between her teeth and he reached out and gently coaxed her to release it, taking her chin between his thumb and forefinger.

He reached to his hip, pulling his blaster from it's place.

"Shoot anything that's not me or Sobiin," he instructed, proffering her the handle.

Kiy stared at the weapon with open-mouthed wonder.

"But…nobody's allowed to touch your gun," she said finally, her voice surprisingly strong and innocent, distracted from her previous trauma by the idea of touching the forbidden weapon.

Ronon tilted his head to one side.

"Nobody but you," he paused and gave her a small smile, "I guess that makes you my favorite."

At this Kiy's eyes brightened almost to the original splendor he knew to be hers and she hesitantly reached out to take the gun, the barrel of which was the length of one of her arms.

He nodded once and quickly ruffled Hayn's hair before standing again and, after checking the dressing on his leg, he set out in the direction Sobiin had gone.

---

They were at their own table, off to one side in the crowded Mess hall. It was lunchtime and the cafeteria was packed, but lacking the usual murmur of gossip and chit-chat common to that time of day.

All the Deadalus crewmembers were painfully aware of the trio's presence among them. Aware of the aura of tension and worry that surrounded the remaining members of SGA1 as they silently poked at their rehydrated food.

But none of them said anything.

It was true, the impromptu trip across the galaxy to rescue Ronon was delaying them by almost a week for their return trip to Earth.

But none of them complained.

Job security was not one of the perks of being part of the Top Secret: Stargate missions. They all knew each trip across the galaxy or through a gate could be their last. And, secretly, they all hoped the other members of their crew would show as much diligence and determination as these three members of Atlantis' expedition did if they were ever lost to the boundless depths of bad luck that seemed to grip Pegasus like a curse.

So they ate in mostly silence, watching from a respectful distance as the Atlantis crewmates waited to arrive at the planet. Feeling the impatience on the air as if it was their own. And in some ways, it was.

---

The tracks had been easy to follow and in amongst the worry knotting his stomach Ronon found himself wondering if Sobiin had paid any attention at all to the things he'd tried to teach him in the past few days.

It never occurred to him that the boy had done it on purpose. That he'd wanted to be sure he was found.

Had trusted Ronon to find him.

And find him, he did.

Sobiin was standing with his back to him when he approached and staring blankly into the forest.

At least, Ronon thought he was staring blankly.

A long knife he'd pulled from his sleeve was still at ready in his hand when he'd pulled up beside Sobiin and found the boy standing over four dead bodies, all four impaled with wooden spikes through the chest.

Two were wearing uniforms he immediately recognized from the camp as low ranking guards. Probably scouts sent ahead of the rest of the search party to either find the escapees or the booby traps. It looked as though they'd found the latter.

Or been led to it.

"Who are they?" Ronon asked, gesturing vaguely to the other two bodies at their feet. They weren't wearing uniforms like the Guards and they weren't as recently dead.

Sobiin's voice was almost too soft to be heard when he responded, "Yost Rhannd and Trisdan AuGar. They came here with us," the boy sniffed loudly and rubbed his hand across his nose, "we're Ring Walkers."

Ronon didn't respond. He'd suspected as much. The children's clothing and mother tongue, a strange but distinct dialect garnered from mixing the languages of several worlds, as well as Sobiin's proficiency at breaking people out of jails had led him to the conclusion long ago. The life of a Ring Walker, constantly traveling from planet to planet in small groups to trade and, hopefully, stay one step ahead of the wraith, was not one many still led. It was risky and difficult, not to mention that 'The Walkers' were considered to be little more than thieves on most planets and many traders would not deal with them.

"We came here three months ago, this is our Safe Place. Where we were supposed to come if we became separated," Sobiin continued, his eyes never wavering from the corpses of two people he'd come to think of as family in his eleven years of life, "on the planet where Kiy's parent's died, the fire caused chaos. We were run out of the village. They blamed us. Kiy and me and Hayn and," he gestured to the bodies, "them, along with a few others. We were separated from my parents and Hayn's mother. We came here to wait for them. It was supposed to be safe here." He finished in a whisper.

Ronon took a deep breath, hearing the brave anguish in the boys' voice pained him in a way he was sure no Maya leaf would ever be able to dull. Acting without thought, he cupped the back of Sobiin's neck with one of his big hands and squeezed.

It was all the boy could take. Sobiin blinked and the hindered tears that had been blurring his vision finally escaped to stream down his cheeks and, ashamed of the weakness, he turned to press his face to Ronon's chest, locking his hands around behind his waist.

Ronon stiffened at first, caught off guard, but the hesitation only lasted for a moment and he returned the embrace, stroking the back of Sobiin's blonde head as he sobbed into his chest.

Less than a minute later Sobiin pulled away. Keeping his face at the ground he pointed into the forest in front of them, the trees were sloping slightly upward.

"The ring is on the other side of this hillrise."

Ronon nodded, his concerned gaze never leaving Sobiin's downcast face. The boy had composed himself quickly, the only trace of his previous breakdown was the splotchy red of his cheeks.

"We should get Kiy and Hayn," Sobiin said finally.

"Your parents?" Ronon asked, watching closely for the boy's reaction.

Sobiin shook his head, "they're not coming."

He turned on his heel and headed dutifully back in the direction they'd come.

---

"Mill-Sentries Trem and Ghars have not returned from their scout," the Sin-Sentry reported devotedly.

Vorna stood from her squatted position, her eyes never leaving the ground of the forest. She tilted her head at the blast pattern that surrounded her, emanating from this point. An exploded landmine.

"They have either encountered a trap or…"

"Or my missing Satedan," she finished.

She tilted her head when she found spots of blood, wondering who it was that had paid for the clumsy mistake of stepping on such a trap, and if they were still alive for her to capture.

The first lights of dawn were breaking on the horizon and she looked up sharply to the east.

The gate.

She should have known that was where they were heading.

The first smile to adorn her lips in many moons slid onto her face, a sinister darkness lurking in her eyes.

She loved knowing something her prey did not.

---

Ronon laid on his back, his uninjured leg bent and the other stretched out with his arms elbow deep in the guts of the DHD. His shoulder throbbed from the strain of reaching up into the console, but he ignored it, focusing on the task at hand.

Contrary to what seemed to be popular opinion on Atlantis, he wasn't an idiot. He'd grown up around rings and DHDs. All of them were thousands of years old and they didn't come without the occasional kink. Between his father's lessons and seven years as a Runner, he'd learned a thing or two about damage control and repair them. Just because it was easier to let McKay mess around with it most of the time didn't mean he didn't know what he was doing.

He cursed and dropped his hands to his stomach. Unfortunately, all that knowledge meant absolutely _zilch_, as Sheppard would say, when the Main Control Conduits had been yanked out. Obviously Vorna did not want him just walking off this forsaken rock. Or limping, as that seemed more likely to be the case.

Feeling he was being watched, he lifted his head and faced Sobiin and Hayn, who'd plopped himself down on Ronon's stomach, looking at him with curious, attentive eyes.

"Wing," the younger boy said, pointing a short, chubby finger at the stargate that stood fifty away.

Ronon propped himself up on his elbows, throwing one last frustrated look at the DHD, "don't think that's gonna happen, little soldier," he ruffled the child's short hair, a habit he seemed to have acquired unintentionally.

Kiy was studying the tree line surrounding the gate wearily, Ronon's blaster still wrapped tight in her hands. At his comment she looked back and blinked at him, "you can't fix it?"

Ronon shook his head, "Sobiin take him."

The oldest boy stood and pulled Hayn off Ronon's chest so he could get up. Ronon reached up and took hold of the top of the DHD, using only his good arm and leg to get himself to a standing position. He didn't glance down at the makeshift field bandage when he felt more warm fluid gushing out the open wound, he hardly winced.

"Back to the trees." He ordered. He hadn't been thrilled about the children following him into the open area surrounding the gate in the first place, but separating himself from them, even if it was just for a few feet had become nearly impossible. And not just because the children wouldn't allow it, as he would have liked to claim.

After the events of the previous night, he'd discovered that the thought of being separate from them made his heart rate speed up uncomfortably with what he was now recognizing to be worry.

Sobiin handed the littlest child to Kiy and jerked his chin in the direction of the forest, sending the pair off ahead of them and then turned back to Ronon.

"Let's go," he said, wondering why Ronon still wasn't moving.

"Go on ahead."

Sobiin just shook his head, his short blonde hair brushing his forehead, "your leg is getting worse. I have to stay with you in case you fall."

"I won't fall."

"Then this should be easy," Sobiin responded with quick wit Ronon hadn't expected. He cocked his head to one side, it reminded him of Sheppard.

The thought of his team leader sent a sudden pang through his stomach to his chest and Ronon almost winced visibly at the strength of his desire to see his team. Speak to them. Know they were safe.

He quickly pushed the thoughts aside, knowing they did him no good and would only serve to distract him and he needed all his faculties to keep track of his small clan.

Ronon glared at the boy's stubbornness but hobbled ahead, allowing Sobiin to bring up the rear, but found himself glancing frequently over his shoulder to make sure the boy didn't wander off or fall behind.

They'd almost made it to the tree line when Ronon felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, something that was happening much more than he would have liked on this planet.

Instantly he froze and reached up to grab Kiy's shoulder, stopping her and Hayn as well.

He knew there were no traps the way they were going, he'd cleared it on the way to the gate, and that only left on explanation…

As if on cue, Vorna stepped out of the thick of trees, her ugly energy weapon pointed directly at him.

"You take the fun out of everything, Satedan," she said with a smile that had nothing to do with joy.

Ronon grit his teeth, every muscle in his body becoming rigid as more soldiers emerged from the forest, surrounding them on all sides.

"Sobiin, take Kiy and Hayn back to the Dialer. Slowly. Don't move when you get there," he said, his voice low and nearly vibrating with anger. For once, Sobiin did not question the order. He watched as dozens of soldiers suddenly appeared out of the forest and surrounded them on all sides. Without a word he collected the younger children and walked them back to the DHD, the only thing available to provide cover in the large clearing.

Vorna laughed,the hollow and cold sound driving a few black birds from their perches atop a tall, dead tree nearby.

"How sweet. Protecting them. I suppose it's only fair, they did help you escape, after all," the smile disappeared, "it does not matter. We will deal with them later. First," she tilted her head, looking him up and down in that appraising way she did so well, "first, I want to deal with you. Personally."

_TBC_


	12. Timing is Everything

**A/N: One more chap prolly after this. This chap didn't come out quite like I wanted so I apologize for the anti-climactic-ness of it. It just wasn't working for me. Thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed this fic so far!! Luv you lots! ****-pj **

Ronon took a deep breath, seeing everything around him, and simultaneously, seeing nothing but Vorna. He forced himself not to fidget, not to visibly favor one side over the other, although there was nothing he could do to hide the bloodstains on his clothes.

"So what? You gonna shoot me?" Ronon challenged out of habit, and immediatly regretted it. He wasn't used to worrying about more than just himself, and now he hoped she did not take his challenge. He could not protect the children if he was unconscious or dead, and he had no doubt that they would need protection.

To his relief, and surprise, she dropped her gun, prompting the other solders to aim theirs at the ground.

"You have caused me much trouble, Satedan. You have cost me many lives."

Though his thoughts were something along the lines of a sarcastic 'my heart bleeds', Ronon managed to remain silent at that comment.

"You will pay for your insolence."

"Gladly," Ronon snarled, his fists tightening in anticipation.

Vorna's eyes flashed and she dove at him, aware of both his obvious size advantage and his numerous, serious, injuries.

Ronon readied himself for a fight, adrenalin momentarily giving him full use of his battered body.

---

"We're almost within range."

John stood at the front of the bridge, Teyla and Rodney beside him, staring in earnest at the small gray planet hovering below them in space. It looked so calm, docile. Peaceful even. So why was his gut doing flip-flops, warning him of a danger that was just out of his reach to prevent?

"When you get a lock beam him directly to the bridge."

---

Vorna landed with a grunt on her back and swung out high with her left foot, dealing a glancing blow to Ronon's injured thigh.

He cried out as the sudden sharp pain drove him to his knees, momentarily paralyzing him.

Vorna stood and, taking advantage of his divided attention, moved behind him with the swiftness he'd expect of her lithe form. She wrapped her arms around his neck and chin and Ronon froze. He recognized the tactic, had used it himself numerous times. One false move and she would snap his neck in two.

"Say goodbye, Satedan," Vorna hissed in his ear, her muscles tensing in preparation for dealing the death blow.

"Go to hell," Ronon responded and, in the same breath, used all his remaining strength to rip a short blade from his belt, thrusting it up and behind him. Vorna's arms immediatley retracted and he turned in time to see her fall backwards, hands wrapped around a jagged, bleeding wound in her stomach.

Vorna's eyes were filled with surprise and hatred as she stared as he moved to hover over her and he allowed himself a small smile. He thought her red-tinged lips were trying to curse him as her last breaths left her and he watched as her eyes finally glazed over.

His breathing was ragged and heavy and every part of his body felt as if it was on fire. He drug his eyes up from Vorna's corpse and they landed on the children, all huddled around one another near the DHD. They looked frightened. He took a stumbled step toward them and the solders rushed to the aid of their leader.

From behind him he heard a Sheddi curse and the sound of dozens of energy weapons charging. He didn't hesitate, he didn't have time. Calling upon reserves of strength he didn't know he had, Ronon broke into a run, trying to close the distance between himself and the children in time.

---

"I have a lock," the helmsman announced, a delighted beep accompanying his statement.

"Beam him up!" Sheppard and Caldwell's voices tripped over one another but neither noticed because the order was already being followed.

**---**

Halfway through the trip Ronon realized he was being beamed and as soon as he materialized, thankfully on the bridge, he was met with the happy gazes of Rodney, Teyla and Sheppard.

He brushed past them all to look at Caldwell.

"There were three other life signs with me, beam them here."

"Excuse me? Ronon I can't just…"

"Near the DHD, do it," he repeated urgently, cursing for the millionth time the overly-cautious nature of the Earthers, "before it's too late."

It wasn't so much a demand as it was a plea, and it was that fact that caused the Colonel to, against his better judgment, give the order.

Seconds later three small creatures all huddled together materialized on the bridge of the ship. Sobiin unwrapped himself from around the younger two, and Kiy lifted her head. Her eyes landed immediately on Ronon and she burst into tears, jumped up and ran across the bridge to leap into his arms.

Ronon caught her effortlessly, ignoring the twinge in his arm. Cradling her against him, he closed his eyes and thanked whatever ancestors that might be listening for keeping them safe.

The pain in his leg had gone completely forgotten until Hayn suddenly slammed into it and wrapped himself around the trunk-like limb. The blinding white pain came back into full focus and Ronon stumbled, hardly able to keep himself upright. To prevent himself from falling on his face, he instead knelt on his good knee and put Kiy on the ground, no longer able to carry his weight and hers, but she still clung to his neck.

"We thought you-you'd left us," she gasped between sobs, her tears creating stripes of clean skin on her dirty face.

He shook his head, and quickly looked her over, "You're okay, right? Hayn?" He looked at the youngest child, who's eyes were wide with amazement and confusion at the entire ordeal. The only thing keeping his chubby chin from trembling was the fact that he was still surrounded by familiar faces.

"We're all fine," Sobiin answered. Ronon took another sweeping glance to confirm it and then nodded.

He looked around the bridge, sure he'd seen his team somewhere, and caught sight of them off to one side, looks of varying degrees of disbelief and amazement on their faces.

"Ronon," John began hesitantly, "anything you want to tell us, Buddy?"

_TBC_


	13. Out of the Hearts of Babes

**A/N2: My bad!! Okay, I only changed one word in this chapter (it was kind of important), so if you've already read it, no need to do so again, if you can't tell which one, more power to you! Sorry for the confusion!**

**A/N: This is the last chap. One last HUGE thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed this fic. I hope this last part holds true and that you all find it satisfactory (check me out with the five dollar words!) ****-pj**

**Disclaimer (for old times sake): Don't own any of the SGA characters or technology referenced in the fic. I only claim the munchkins, but Sci Fi will probably want them too...  
**

Ronon entered the Infirmary Atlantis was nearing the end of it's night cycle, hoping to find the place deserted and therefore, a decent degree of solitude. He'd never been a fan of the hustle and bustle so common to the large city.

The children had been practically glued to him during the entire trip back on the Deadalus, as he tried to reassure the naturally wary trio that the doctors were there only to help them. He'd been able to steal a few moments here and there for debriefings with the Colonel, but never for very long.

When they made it back to Atlantis, Keller had admitted all three into the infirmary for observation and continued monitoring of their vastly disproportionate nutrition intake. He'd gone back to his quarters, under strict doctor's orders, for rest and a meal. Apparently, he had more varied and serious injuries than he remembered, and sleep had come much quicker and deeper than he'd expected.

"Ronon."

He stopped and turned, both surprised and not to find Keller there. He was immediately grateful that he'd opted to put on the leg brace she'd ordered him into before coming down to visit.

"Where's your sling?" Jennifer asked, frowning at his arm. He held it protectively to his side, but loose and hanging.

Ronon glanced down at his bad shoulder. He knew he'd forgotten something.

"Lost it."

Keller rolled her eyes, clearly not believing him.

"You're just asking for reconstructive surgery, you know," she chastised, and moved past him toward her office, half a dozen medical charts under her arm, "at any rate I'm glad you're here. I wanted to talk to you about the children."

Ronon waited until she'd set the charts down on her desk and turned back to face him.

"What's wrong?"

"Sobiin and Hayn are adjusting well. They're eating and their minor injuries are healing nicely."

"And Kiy?" Ronon asked, he remembered that on the Deadalus Kiy had been subdued. While Sobiin and Hayn were often running from one place to another to gaze out at the stars or pummel the crew with questions, Kiy had not strayed far from his side, her tiny hand always planted firmly within his.

"Well, Kiy is a bit of a different matter. Her injuries, like the boys, weren't very severe. But she's really concerning me. She won't eat, she sleeps all the time, won't speak to anyone," she shook her head, folding her arms tightly and Ronon could see the lines of worry on her face, "She was already suffering from dehydration and malnutrition when she boarded the Deadalus, if this goes on much long I'm going to have to start an IV and with all trauma she's been through I really don't want to do that."

She finally looked up at him and found Ronon watching her closely. He nodded.

"I'll talk to her."

Kelly smiled, "thank you Ronon."

---

Kiy wasn't asleep when he sat down beside her bed, which dwarfed her small body in white on white sheets.

She was lying on her side, staring blankly at the table beside her, which held an untouched tray full of food from the Mess.

"You gonna eat this?" He asked quietly, removing a vanilla pudding and a spoon from the tray.

Kiy shook her head and continued to stare.

Ronon opened the pudding and stirred it, taking a small bite experimentally. He made a face, put the spoon back and looked at the cup, aware that Kiy's blank stare was now alert and watching him.

He held the snack out to her.

"Does this taste like _Ciloth _to you?"

She furrowed her brow but sat up in the bed, "_Ciloth_?"

"Yeah. It tastes sort of fishy to me."

Kiy took the pudding hesitantly and tasted a bite even more miniscule than Ronon's had been. After a moment she shook her head, hair now braided neatly in a single plait down her back swung back and forth with the motion.

But instead of taking the pudding back when Kiy held it out to him, Ronon reached over again to her tray and took the bag of pretzels, immediately making himself at home in his chair.

Kiy looked back at the pudding but made no move to eat it.

"What do you think of Atlantis?"

Kiy sighed and glanced around. To her right were Sobiin and Hayn's beds, both boys sleeping peacefully. And to the left was a curtain, separating them from the rest of the infirmary.

"It's…quiet," she said, absently lifting a spoonful of pudding to her mouth.

This made him stop. A knowing knot of understanding developing in his stomach, "too quiet?"

Kiy shrugged and continued eating her pudding, not looking up to meet Ronon's watchful gaze.

Ronon took a moment to listen. At that moment, all that could be heard was the gentle hum of the city around them, keeping them safe, and Hayn's soft snoring two beds over.

"When I first got here, it was hard. Being still. Being quiet," he began, speaking softly, his eyes defocused as he lost himself in the not so distant memory of his first few weeks on Atlantis, "For so long I'd only been concerned with staying one step ahead of the wraith, I never had time to think. Then, here, all of a sudden I had lots of time. Too much time."

Ronon realized Kiy had stopped eating and looked over at her. Her eyes were glassy with tears and she was worrying her bottom lip mercilessly.

"I miss my _Mai _and _Pad_," she said in a broken whisper. She finally looked up and Ronon's gaze softened at the raw greif in her huge brown eyes. Before he knew what was happening, she had crawled across the bed and curled up in his lap, half-restricted sobs forcing themselves from her throat. He remained stiff at the sudden contact, and her sobs grew louder and more desperate, her tiny fingers vice-like around the straps of his leather vest.

Finally, as if jolted alive by a vague memory from his childhood, he allowed his arms to loosen and fold around her small, trembling body, his hand rubbing soothing circles on her back.

Ronon was unaware of his uncertain frown until he looked up and saw Keller peaking at them from behind a curtain. Somehow her small smile and nod of encouragment gave him the assurance he needed. He leaned his chin down to rest on top of her head, waiting.

---

Ronon was in mission debriefings and some required physio therapy for the rest of the day and unable to come to the infirmary to visit until it was nearing the evening. When he got there, both boys had joined Kiy on her bed and had three half empty lunch trays spread out between them.

They looked up at him and Kiy offered him her pudding when he sat down. Apparently several of his teammates and some other expedition members had stopped by to say 'hello' because almost immediately the children began bombarding him with questions. About Atlantis, about the Earthers, about their strange words and actions and why exactly was the Canadian Football League better than the National Football League? Apparently McKay had been among the visitors.

"Sounds like there are about as many rules as there is walls," Sobiin commented, sucking down the last of his milk after about half an hour of explanations which, weren't really all that enlightening. Ronon didn't know the difference between the CFL and NFL either.

Ronon glanced at the boy over a spoonfull of vanilla pudding, "what do you mean?"

Kiy rolled her eyes, "just look."

Ronon did. He looked all around. Aside from being surrounded by medical personnel and a medley of both Earth and Ancient tech, a thought occurred to him that he hadn't noticed in nearly four years.

There were no windows.

He looked back at the children. Kiy had returned to her meal, having made her point and not yet satisfied her recently rediscovered appetite. Hayn, who had potatoes in his hair and gravy on his face, had never really left off eating. But Sobiin met his gaze squarely, and in it Ronon could see the same restlessness he sometimes still saw in his own reflection.

He dipped his chin once, "finish up, I've got to go talk to Keller."

---

John swung his bantos and twirled it around his fingers before tossing it in the air and catching it with the opposite hand.

"What are you doing John?" Teyla asked, a smile in her voice.

"My sister was a majorette," he said, by way of explanation, "she taught me."

Teyla 'ah'ed in a way that meant she still didn't understand but was willing to let the subject drop.

The two had just finished their bantos exercise when Keller radioed that Ronon had yet to return to the infirmary with the children as promised and the two, having a pretty good idea of where he might be, volunteered to retrieve the radio-less Satedan.

As they approached the west pier, the suns descending low in the horizon were turning the hallway stripes of gold where the windows allowed light in.

By the time they got to the pier the light was almost completely gone and the sky was more than half filled with stars.

"I see one!"

They looked out over the peir to find the source of the call. They were just barely able to make out their shadows against the failing light. Ronon and the three infirmary escapees were lying flat on their backs side-by-side looking up at the sky.

As they began the long trek out to the edge of the peir, Ronon's rumbling voice intermingled with high pitched children's voices floated toward them on a half-whispered breeze.

"I see Oriin." Kiy thrust her hand up into the sky and traced a constellation of four stars on the South-West horizon.

"No you don't," Sobiin countered, antagonizing her for no reason other than he knew he could.

"Yes I do, it's right there!" Kiy insisted, sitting up to glare at him across Ronon and Hayn who lay between her and the other boy.

"There's Pegasus," Ronon pointed to seven stars directly overhead and effectively distracted the children out of their argument.

"I see Sargintor," Sobiin piped up, "the warrior. He killed a hundred wraith in a single night," he continued, his voice full of awe.

"So what? I do that all the time," Ronon said, sounding uncharacteristically playful. Sobiin rolled his eyes, Kiy giggled and Hayn joined her, not really knowing what was funny but more than a little amused anyway.

"There's Atlantis."

"And Ronon'kaffa," Kiy turned to look at their adult companion, "is that where you get your name, Ronon?"

He glanced at her with a small smile, "it was my mother's favorite star-pattern."

Kiy nodded and looked away, even in the dark he could see the sadness cross her young face, "my mother's was Delphian."

Ronon felt a newly familiar pain in his chest, only this time he wasn't sure if it was caused by anger at not being able to protect the girl from the grief he knew to be her burdon, or the fact that he didn't know how to make her burdon lighter.

Without warning, Kiy scooted across the smooth space that separated them and curled up at his side. Ronon stared down at the top of her head for a moment and then, somewhat hesitantly, wrapped his arm around her and she turned her so she was still looking up at the sky.

"Where is it?" She asked softly.

"What?" Ronon rumbled back, his voice equally quiet.

"Delphian. I…I never learned it."

Ronon studied the sky for several minutes and he was almost afraid it wouldn't be visible from this planet. Then he spotted it, eight of the ten stars that made up the constellation were peaking out from behind one of the Eastern Spires.

"There."

Kiy didn't say anything, but in the small amount of light given off from the glowing city behind them, Ronon could have sworn he saw her smile.

---

Sheppard and Teyla approached quietly, and could hear two voice whispering to one another as the sound was carried across the water.

When they were only a few feet away, he saw them. Ronon looking positively maternal with both the smaller children curled up beside him and sleeping soundly and carrying on a whispered conversation about past wraith battles with the eldest boy.

Sobiin and Ronon both looked up, and Teyla smiled warmly at the scene.

"Ohh you're in _trouble_." John said teasingly and shook his head, "you kept the kids out _way _past their bedtime."

Ronon nodded, moving to stand, and surprised to find he couldn't with Hayn and Kiy propped against him the way they were.

"Little help?" he gestured at the smallest boy and John nodded, moving to pick Hayn up. The child curled deep into John's arms and continued snoring contentedly after the shift in altitude.

Sobiin climbed to his feet slowly, "I'm not tired," he muttered, not even noticing when his sleep addled mind caused him to stumble and Teyla reached out to prevent a fall.

"Of course you're not," she said quietly, used to dealing with men who were in denial, "but Hayn and Kiy need their rest, and the pier is not the best place for them. You would rather keep watch over them than stay out here, would you not?" Teyla asked leadingly, appealing to the protective nature she recognized from having spent so much time with Ronon and John.

Sobiin considered this and then nodded and started back toward the city, Teyla at his side. Behind them, John carried Hayn and Ronon, Kiy.

"Did you find them?" Ronon asked, his voice low enough that it did not carry forward to reach Sobiin's ears.

John sighed, "we've put out feelers all over the galaxy. If Sobiin's parents are out there, we'll find them."

Ronon nodded, accepting the uncertainty of the situation. He was filled with a strange mixture of elation and sadness that he wasn't sure he fully understood. While on the one hand, he knew what was best for the children to be returned to those that knew them and cared for them, on the other the thought of losing them sent a sharp pain through his gut and straight to his heart.

"And if you don't?"

John hesitated, shifting Hayn in his arms when the boy started to fuss. "Woolsey hasn't made a formal ruling one way or the other. They can stay on Atlantis under the care of the Infirmary until they're back to one hundred percent. After that…"

"They can't stay on Atlantis."

John glanced at his friend, surprised that it was a statement, not a question.

"Too dangerous." The Satedan clarified when he felt John's questioning stare. Hardly a week went by when the city wasn't under threat of Wraith or Genii or some strange unknown virus hell bent on wiping the 'Lanteans from existence. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to the children while there.

"Teyla says the Athosians would welcome them." John said after a moment, understanding the silent reasoning of his friend and having come to the same conclusion.

Ronon nodded, "I'll go with them. Make sure they get settled."

"Do you think they'll be okay with that?" John didn't want to think about what the children had been through in their short lives. Judging only by what Ronon had told him about their brief stay on the planet, it had been one terror after another, and their young wards had been there for months before Ronon even entered the picture. _God only knows how they survived alone._ And before that, from what he'd gathered, the life of a Ring Walker was anything but easy. He hated to wonder what one more move, more time with strangers, could do to the fragile mind of a child.

Ronon looked down at the girl in his arms, sleeping peacefully, the lines of fear and worry completely forgotten in the light of the moon and the safety of dream.

He sighed.

"They're strong," He assured both himself and John, and they traversed the rest of the way to the infirmary in silence.

When they arrived, Sobiin fell onto his bed, asleep in seconds. Hayn and Kiy were placed on their beds as well, each still sleeping soundly and curled up in the thin blankets. Ronon stood sentry at the foot of the beds, his hands buried deep in his pockets. Teyla ruffled Sobiin's hair fondly and then turned to leave, squeezing Ronon's arm as she passed and sending him a gentle smile.

John sidled up beside him, mimicking his hands-in-pocket posture.

"I think you're right, Big Guy," John said, his eyes landing on each of the young faces in turn, "they are strong. Too young to be so strong," he added as an afterthought.

Ronon straightened and threw a glance at his CO, "Maybe. But better 'too young', than 'too late'." Leaving John to think on this, he took a long, deep breath and pulled up a chair beside Hayn's bed, sitting in the midst of the sleeping children.

John watched him settle his booted feet up on the side table and pull a knife from his hair, absently sharpening it on a rock he always kept in his pocket. When he turned to leave, John smiled, knowing the children were under the watch of their Satedan guardian, for tonight and, he guessed, many nights to come.

_END_


End file.
